Easter Sunday recently means there's been an abundance of chocolate in the house. I mean, even I am sick of the sight of it to be honest and I have the biggest sweet tooth going. It's a lot.
As lovely as having dinner at my Mum's and going to parties all weekend and having the chocolate was at first, the resulting tantrums and grumpy baby after eating chocolate has been... challenging. It all got to be a little bit too exciting for the girls and measures had to be taken. We're not even remotely religious, but it's like a warmer version of Christmas, with chocolate instead of presents at this point, so I just go with it.
So I've hidden it, and instead of giving chocolate sparingly when asked, I've taken to distraction - for example, today, we've learned some Karate which has cheered Harper up and Sylvie has found the banging, crashing and running around. We needed the cheering up because Sylvie was up all night, Daddy's a grump, Mummy had to get up for work at 4am and the only one not affected by the sleeplessness was Harper. A well rested 4-year-old and a tired household is not often a good mix, but we make do!
We're muddling along until the weekend, I've had to have my shift covered at work because the Mr's making a trip down to Devon to visit his parents on a cheer-up mission, so we're going to go exploring, we're going to strap on a carrier, get a bus ticket, take the bike and find something to see, maybe some puddles, maybe some seashells it all depends on the weather! I
will wear the biggest out!
With work and tiredness it's difficult to keep up with what's what, even more difficult to capture moments like I used to be able to, so keeping on top of everything right now is a struggle, but as ever, we keep on, the kid's are fed, the family are loved and clothed and cared for and we get on with another day. I thought time with Harper went fast, it feels like someone's doubled the fast forward since having Sylvie, they say the days are long but the years are short, but right now the days flick by in minutes and merge into one.
If I say 'stop the world I want to get off' loud enough do you think time will slow down a bit? It's all getting a bit Doctor Who in our household, because I swear Harper was only born a week ago? How did she turn 4, how is Sylvie nearly 9 months old already?!
Today we went on a pharmacy adventure, by that, of course, I mean a safari adventure. Harper insists that I am wrong however, and honestly who am I to correct her? What was originally meant to be a day out to see the giraffes, rhinos, gorillas and tigers turned into something much more... Prehistoric though. A new interest has been born - DINOSAURS.
At Port Lympne Zoo, you arrive and you go through the entrace, through the gift shop (that of course you also exit through), and go to basecamp, where you are picked up by a safari truck and driven through various zones to see lots and lots of animals - we saw giraffes, rhino, a cheetah, zebras, and lots of deer-type animals (the engine was so loud I couldn't hear what the man was saying, so I missed their names) running around quite happily, Harper was absolutely enthralled, squealing with excitement as the giraffes passed by, and spotting animals in the distance - she was one of the first to point out the ostrich and his chicks, and she felt very clever to know what an ostrich was. When you get off the truck, you have quite a walk ahead of you, but you come out, walk up a little to where the toilets are, and opposite is the dinosaur forest, which basically goes around in a loop and you learn about loads of different dinosaurs. There are some hiding in the bushes and you have to have a good look for them. As we walked around (in the rain) Harper was super excited about spotting them all, and reading (being read to, anyway) about them, learning their names, what their names meant and where they lived on the planet, and when ("not now Mummy? There aren't any dinosaurs around now?" was quite a concern apparently - she didn't want to get eaten by a T-Rex). We had a totally wonderful time, but a word of warning - if you baby wear, you might be best sticking with a carrier, we had to drop the buggy off, and while there are umbrella buggies that you can pick up for free after the safari experience, with little-little ones it would definitely be easier to just take the carrier too. We had a great day, and while of course it wasn't a particularly 10-month-old kind of day out, it was right up Harper's street, and Sylvie definitely didn't mind that Harper insisted she also get a stuffed dinosaur, to be "fair." All in all, it was a great day out, and Harper is now interested in something that doesn't have wheels, which can only be a bonus!
