A day of two halves

First half stressful, second half fantastic! Plus, Ben has suddenly grown up. He's managed to be fully clothed including PANTS not a nappy and has coped with a trip to the beach, the cafe, a nap in the car and a bike shop with no accidents. Plenty of wees in the potty, and several in the public toilets near the cafe! What a star. My fears were unfounded, evidently!

Bit of an essay today, sorry. It's been a big long day.

Summary:
* Ben in pants all day, no accidents
* Picnic on the beach
* Hot chocolate and cake in the cafe
* Clambering on the rocks
* Nap in the car
* Steve chose a bike for me!
* Got a bargain with saddle bag and pannier in the sale
* Tantrums in the car, Ben wanted to go TO church
* Ben's gone to bed with no nappy on eeek (his choice)
* Duvet and pillows freshly laundered (wow they smell GOOD)
* Those last two things could potentially be an upsetting combination...
* And the Big Cleanup has started :0)

So if you don't want the details, you've got the gist of it now!



Ignoring the first half of the day (of not being able to wake up properly, everything happening in the wrong order, not being able to take things at a relaxed pace, oh my word how much stress does it take to be able to pack a picnic and get out of the door?!) the rest was pretty good. We picnicked on the beach (in the cool wind, when the sun was hiding behind the clouds) and I wrapped myself up in a towel and made Ben jealous but he was actually too busy running round between mouthfuls of sandwich or cake to really mind; then we headed off to the cafe for hot chocolate and tea and coffee and cake, and after that Ben had a clamber around on the rocks. If we keep taking him down to the rocks for a climb he's going to be a little mountain goat by the time he's three. (In two months' time. Aaargh)

It took some persuading to get Ben back in the car again after all that because he wanted to keep on clambering all over the rocks but we wanted to go to a bike shop and of course we are bigger than him so we won ;0) BUT, that said, a minute after we set off in the car he was nodding and agreed to his chair being tipped back so he could go to sleep and he was fast asleep within another minute. We knew. We SO knew he was tired :0) He woke up when we got to the bike shop but he'd had 20 minutes' sleep so wasn't utterly knackered. Steve had seen a bike in there last week and taken a picture of it and shown me and I was a little bit smitten so he wanted to show it me in the flesh, as it were. Gutted to find that one had been sold, and by the time they got through to their other shop where the LAST ONE was, it was being taken out for a test ride........ and sold!! GUTTED!!! But never mind, the 2012 range is coming out very soon (as in, in the next few weeks) and the new version of it is only £70 more expensive and has a brown saddle ;0) (and other differences, not just a different coloured saddle!) and Steve has decided that this is to be my birthday present this year. (I think this means my girlie camera bag might be a Christmas present or even next year's birthday present ha) I managed to get myself a bargain with getting a saddlebag and a pannier bag in the sale though, they will go perfectly with the new bike (it's very retro and so are they). Steve does bikes, I do accessories. Good team!

Ben was funny though. He was bored so one of the chaps in the shop said he could have a go on one of the kiddie bikes they had on display. It happened to be pink and very girly and had pedals and stabilisers and it was the most perfect thing to keep him occupied the whole time we were there. His legs weren't quite long enough to reach the pedals when they were at the bottom so he was having to work quite hard. He little tongue was sticking out in concentration quite a lot! He figured out how to get it to move and then remembered how to steer and rode at a snails' pace round and round and round the shop while we hung around waiting to hear about this bike.

He didn't want to leave it but we persuaded him to come and ride his own bike. By this point he was getting tired again and getting him in the car was a proper battle. It involved going to see the swans, riding for a bit in the carpark, seeing the swans again, being completely not bribed by a promise of hot chocolate or biscuits but finally the suggestion of cake had him RUNNING back to the car. He had to squeeze out a wee before he was allowed back in the car and then he was allowed his cake.

But oh my word, getting home was loud. He didn't want to go home. He wanted to go to church. (He'd been going on about going to church since we set off to go for the picnic in the first place.) We eventually figured out that he wanted to go to church to play the big drumkit and to see Ede but he wanted to go NOW not tomorrow. Tantrum central, thanks to being so utterly shattered! Persuaded him that we would be going to church after one more sleep and he immediately shut his eyes!! Oops no we meant one more BIG sleep, like, in your bed kinda thing. Cue more screaming and crying and wailing. Finally got home and he didn't want any tea, wanted to go to bed, fully clothed, couldn't be persuaded into pyjamas at all. Woke up an hour and a half later and still didn't want pyjamas on but wanted mummy again, but after a lot of patience which I didn't realise I had I got him to remove his shorts but leave his red pants on, and change his tshirt for his pyjama top.

So he's only gone and decided that he doesn't want a night nappy on, on the day I've managed to get the duvet and pillows laundered (thank you Steve for doing all that!) and we're finally not sleeping in sleeping bags again. Thanks Ben, great timing! So we have a waterproof sheet topped with a towel underneath the bedsheet. I have a suspicion that it won't actually get wet but y'know it would be sods' law that he'd forget and wee if we didn't put anything down just in case.

Blimey I've written a lot today.

And it's not the end yet. He woke up AGAIN and had cuddles in the living room and some dinner and cake and juice and has gone back to bed, hopefully for a longer sleep than the past two efforts of 90 minutes and then 30 minutes.

And the big cleanup has begun - the kitchen is slowly being put back together again, the dining room is next, and we're hoovering and cleaning things as we go. Still glad of the little kitchenette up in the front bedroom/living room though!


AND breathe and go to bed..... ;0)