Hedgehog encounter

Smalley was this days old when he met a hedgehog in the wild. 

We were out on the evening dog walk, boys with wizard staffs in hand, and almost home when Smalley spotted something scurry across the street. At first he thought it was a rat but was thrilled it turned out to be a hedgehog who kindly stayed still against the wall allowing Smalley to get so close he could touch it. 

We broke up some dog treats (organic and wholesome) and he put them down for the hedgehog then retreated back so as not to scare the little creature. Curiosity soon got the better of him. This led to a very gentle creeping forward following by huge jumps of joy, arms spinning, silently screaming with happiness as the hedgehog had grabbed the treats with its front paws and within two minutes had scoffed the lot. 

Overwhelmed with happiness at the whole encounter some tears of joy flowed when we made the final part home. Happiness comes by way of healthy, hungry hedgehogs. 

Childhood dreams

 Bean came home from art activity on Thursday with a telescope made from a repurposed kitchen roll and some wrapping paper. It was like he’d won the lottery. Or as he said it: “I can’t believe it. It’s always been a childhood dream of mine to have a telescope made from kitchen roll and now I have”. 

Clearly the toilet roll binoculars we made when he was 2 weren’t as memorable for him as they were to me! 😂

I feel like I’ve had a real upgrade

Yesterday we went to the independent children’s bookstore in town to spend Bean’s birthday vouchers. Inevitably we spent twice the amount we had vouchers for. Inevitably he chose

a book I thought wasn’t the wisest choice; it’s from a series I don’t know and is a chapter book which he is still far from reading. Or so we thought. 

We were out for dinner and the boy just sat at the table and started reading. He wanted to get to the end of the page and just cracked on. Beyond himself with pride when page one was done, he went onto page 2. And continued until the whole first chapter was done, breaking only to ask me words. 

This morning, he was reading again. Breaking only to look at a different book he’d bought. 

This is not normal behaviour but he is so impressed with himself and I love he feels rewarded with self-annointed happiness for his efforts. At the table just now he said: I think I’ve grown up. I feel Like I’ve had a real upgrade. If I were a computer game I’d be up two levels with this reading. 

Sneezing rainbows

 Bean’s school hosted a triathlon and colour run today. The former for the sports lovers, the latter for the Astro charity fundraiser. 

Bean had no interest in the triathlon as he hates competitive swimming. This was hugely relieving as taking part would have forced me to split across Salisbury. However, the colour run caused great excitement - more so than playing football.

We rocked up after Bug’s rugby, set up the sweet stand and spent half an hour negotiating with children over sweets and chocolate before our colour was called and we headed to the start line. 

Bean and I ran the course holding hands - minus the corners which we decided were best for skipping. As we ran (or more accurately jogged) around he made my heart swell with constant reference to how happy he was to be doing the colour run and how much he loved that we were doing it together. 

Bug was on colour throwing duty having knackered himself at rugby. He took this quite seriously when we passed, leaving his post to stand in front of us and chuck a cup of orange powder right at us. The Head of Sport attacked with equal vigour as did my friend Edd when we got to the end of the course. 

I was a sceptic going in and thought I could really have done without it, but we all had the best fun, in the September sunshine with our friends. I’m so pleased we stayed the course and took part! 

Let me tell you about this guy

This guy went to school on Monday looking pale with a tinge of grey and threatened to be sick about three times as we waited outside our friends house on the school run. He wasw quiet, kept closing his eyes and looked almost identical to the last time he had concussion. Had that been a possibility we’d have been at A&E. 

This guy let me drive him to school that morning and whilst he insisted he’d be fine going in I spent the whole morning staring at my phone waiting for the call from school saying he was really ill, he never should have been sent in and I was a terrible parent for not keeping him home. 

The call never came. At 5pm he messaged to say they were just leaving the cross country race he’d been at and half an hour later he comes out of school, happily chatting with his friend, a healthy glow across his face. 

How are you, how was the race I tentatively ask. “It was really hard” comes the reply. 

“I’m really sorry buddy, did you manage to complete?” 

“Oh yeah” he says with a shrug. “I came first. And our 7 runners all placed in the top 12.” 

That caused me to stop in my tracks, literally lost for words. How in the world do you go from grey in the morning to tired champ in the afternoon. 

Fast forward to this morning (and be prepared for some serious parent pride as my heart is bursting)  and the boy’s first time playing rugby for his new school. They’ve only had one games session so the teams were made up based on who put their hands up to play and whatever random order the coaches came to the list. 

The head of sport wandered between the games, another coach for the senior team took on the role of referee and the coaches on the sideline leading the team were three U7 kids. 

Bug loves his rugby but we knew secondary school would be a step up and that, just given the sheer number of children in his year group, it might take awhile for the teachers to see who is comfortable on the field and who needs extra support. Getting into the lead team for his year didn’t feel at all a given but, knowing the effort the boy puts into his games, we knew he’d be really disappointed in any other team. 

As it turns out, our fears weren’t warranted. Bean and I arrived late to the game having walked Alice. As we approached the side line I head the coach saying “this kid is unreal”. Every call from the sideline was praise for a break he made or a tackle he got. When the head of sport came over, it was Bug’s name the coaches shared with him.

I started talking to some of the other dad’s just as the boys broke for half time. They had no idea which child was mine, but started talking about the boy who was making every tackle and the difference he was having on the pitch. I got to humbly say “ah, that’s my boy, he loves his rugby.”

At the end of the game I found myself in a conversation with the referee and a teacher from the opposition who again praised Bug as the “stand out player” before they knew he had any association with me. When I conceded he was my son the referee said “well I told the other boys in the huddle; he’s the only one who knows how to get around the opposition. Follow him and do what he does.” As I said my heart is swelling for my boy who walked off the pitch with his coach shouting over “you’re definitely in the As”. 

The school is very clear - it’s a 7 year journey to the 1st team and your interest in sport and your body will change a lot over that time so this is one game, one morning. However, our fear was that his passion and commitment wouldn’t be seen amongst so much action and, so very happily, that fear got smashed! 

What a champ! 

First day of secondary school

 I'm not sure the reality of this has set in.  Bug was 70% excited, 30% nervous, left me the last few minutes of the walk and came out of school at the end of the day with the biggest grin on his face saying his new school is "amazing".  Plus summer has finally sprung so the walk to and from school was in the most glorious weather. And we marked the end of the day with a trip to the Bubble Tea shop.  Not sure you can ask for better than that.

All the cliches of "how did he get so old" have been said but actually, for me, I'm so bowled away by this boy every day, seeing him get to experience a new school and take it all in his stride with openness feels the most natural thing in the world. 

It turns out Bean was actually the saddest one.  It'll take awhile for him to get his head around not having his big brother at the same school as him and the reality of them heading in different directions each day. 

Looking sparky at 7:20am

So grateful for how close these two are

Setting off on his own

Solo end to the walk 

All smiles for pick up 

Symmetrical smile

The left tooth came out whilst tooth brushing on Tuesday night so now the gaps mirror each other and the boys can’t stop putting his fingers in his mouth to feel where the teeth once were. 

Bean has no illusions about the tooth fairy so enjoyed both saying “I know it’s you” before going to bed and then “thank you mummy” in the morning. 

Knowing it’s me doesn’t stop him from really spreading out his tooth pillow case under his normal pillow and making it almost impossible to reach. 

The tooth pillow is the same I used as a little girl. There’s something so lovely to me that my boys get to use something I used to put under my pillow as well.