A day of contrasting emotions. Sundays are supposed to be relaxing whether kicking back at home or off doing things you don’t have time to do on the other 6 days of the week. They are definitely not meant to be emotional rollercoasters where you find yourself covered in blood before midday.
One of the more unusual introductions in my diary but read on for the explanation as we dive into the top 5 which really is all about my darling daughter:
1. The first two of the top 5 today are very much like a sports match; a game of two halves. I’ve never felt such extremes of emotion in such quick succession and therefore it seems only right that both get their own entry. I should make clear that only one is a “top” whilst the other is very much the low point of the day! So after Steph came back from her morning run, I headed out for mine but this time was accompanied by E. She wanted to go out on her bike so I decided to tie the two activities together. We were going to do around 8k which is comfortably within her range. The only problem was that she kept slowing down and stopping so my run turned into some interval training. That made it much harder than it should have been. The railway line was busy and many of the passers by seemed to take a bit too much pleasure in telling me that I needed to go faster to keep up with her. I was genuinely trying. We even had a stop at half way to have a drink and our Double Trouble sweets (which seemed appropriate!) All went well for the first 6k…. 🏃♂️
2. … and then disaster struck. She had been showing off her zig zag skills which I suggested was not the best of ideas given how busy the path was and how much loose gravel there was, increasing the skid risk. Of course my independent daughter didn’t listen and before my very eyes wiped herself out and face planted the floor. Boy did she hit the ground hard. I’ve been told not to share the photographic evidence of the immediate aftermath but there was a lot of blood flowing and Daddy was helplessly squirting water from his bottle at her face. My incredibly brave little girl agreed to get back on her bike to ride to the nearest road so Mammy could pick us up. She has a grazed knee, a badly grazed thumb and genuinely the biggest fat and split lip I’ve ever seen. It’s like she’s had botched plastic surgery! She’s been well looked after of course and has enjoyed being waited on hand and foot. I just really hope the lip goes down overnight as even the frozen peas were pretty ineffectual. 🤕
3. We had planned to go to the garden centre anyway this afternoon to allow E to buy the first few things for her fairy garden. After her wipe out, it seemed to be the only promise that captured her attention. So off we set with a very sleepy M in tow. Steph was adamant she’d seen a whole selection at one garden centre so we headed there first but inevitably there was nothing really appropriate so ended up at a second centre. She stocked up good and proper and spent all of her points earned over the last 2 weeks. She couldn’t wait to get home and design everything. She knew exactly where it was all going and absolutely loves it. The only problem is M stealing items out of it for his own games but you can be rest assured she reprimands him any time he touches her garden! 🧚♀️
4. Whilst we were in the car driving from one garden centre to the next, E suddenly uttered a sentence which caused our hearts to plummet to the floor. We thought we had a couple more years and certainly weren’t expecting it in August. She said “Is Santa real? I don’t think he is real.” We just weren’t ready to have this conversation so I blurted out a response, “Well what do you think? Why on earth do you think he isn’t real?” She’d clearly been giving it some thought as she blurted out a series of reasons including how she hadn’t seen him but then as she reached the end of her list she concluded with “and I’ve never seen a reindeer so that proves he isn’t real. Actually I have seen a reindeer so I knew they are real and that must mean Santa is real!” A triumphant end to the conversation and Steph and I both started breathing again. 🎅🏼
5. At the garden centre the kids always like to go and see the fish. Unfortunately as part of making it Covid-19 safe you can’t go into the aquarium section on a weekend unless you are buying. I had to explain this to a very upset E but as usual she never stops working out solutions to her life problems. Tonight when members of my family were FaceTimeing to see how her injuries were, she kept dropping into conversation that next time they are able to come and visit she is going to have a fish tank and some fish. It didn’t matter how many times we tell her, she is now adamant that she’s getting some fish. The problem is we know that M would probably batter said fish and not in a tasty way. Back to the drawing board! 🐟
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