Will Dig Life

So much fun - we have chickens now! Named by the children, Bluebell, Buttercup, Poppy and Daisy are ex-commercial laying hens who have reached the age where they slow down laying and get killed: but we rescued them.  They are delightful, and within just a week they've gone from scrawny, scared and half-naked to fluffy feathered, curious and into everything! It's so much fun to watch them, although getting them to trust us is going to be a long road.

I am officially a mother of kids now, no babies or toddlers left. My boy is so rapidly growing up! He is a kind person, extremely cuddly to me, he feels deeply and I'm still his safe place to run to - for now, anyway. He insists on sleeping by my side. He's also insatiably curious and wants to know how things work, loves all types of machines and especially those with wheels or wings, and plays beautifully with his sister who's definitely his best friend. He is careful and detail oriented: when he speaks, he chooses his words very deliberatly (the word " actually " features a lot) and when he plays, rules must be followed. He's also goofy and hilarious and so much fun to be around! Mostly he's a daredevil who will try anything - he already learned to cycle without stabilisers, whereas N(6) still can't do that - but is strangely afraid of water, which we'll have to address soon. I am so, so blessed with this unfolding gift that I get to see more of ...

One of the truisms of attachment parenting is that " early dependency equals later independence ". The idea is that it's better to allow children to be as dependent on us as they wish - not pushing them away in situations where they cling to us - because it gives them the confidence to know that we will always be there if needed. So when they do go into situations unknown, in their own time, they will go out confident in the knowledge that if things go pear-shaped, we will be there as their safe haven. That's always been our approach. When they were small, we never made our children do things they weren't comfortable with - even if other children their age did them. Like sleeping alone.  What I've recently come to understand is that this walk into independence isn't linear - that they are comfortable with something one day, but may not be so the next. They stick their neck out to try something new, they appear happy with it, but then they don't want to...

We're just back from a week in a caravan in Wales. Early May seemed like a fairly safe bet in terms of weather ... but the British weather is not to be trusted! Fred made himself comfortable straight away... we didn't realise at first quite how cold it would get! From the second night onwards, we dragged all the mattresses into the lounge and huddled together there. Off to our first adventure! A day out: Pembrey Country Park Ants! Fred loving his place in the sun Found some sort of bug on the ground... Big hedgehog Back at the caravan site - ball game fun to finish the day Castle Laugharne visit An extremely changeable day - we had periods of gorgeous sunshine, then sudden cold and pouring rain... this is the castle where Dylan Thomas, the poet, did a lot of his writing and we enjoyed walking around the castle ruins. Afterwards, time for ice cream (in the car, too cold to be outside!) What a view! Treasure hunt - we ended up not finding two of the clues, which bothered D(4) all...