Story Time

William was three today. I recorded one of my favourite stories from Thomas the Tank Engine, Thomas and the Trucks, this morning, and uploaded it to YouTube where we are accumulating a lot of stories read by Grandma.

Len, Basil and I met William and his Mum and Dad at the car park for Martinshaw Wood in Ratby and went on a Gruffalo hunt. Daddy went ahead and unobtrusively placed, in turn, a fox, an owl, a snake, a mouse, and finally, a gruffalo in the wood where William could find them. He had to be guided, not quite realising what we were doing, but thoroughly enjoying being with us all. If you don't understand the significance of those creatures, I recommend you read The Gruffalo.

Compared with the times William and I used to walk there before going on to Mummy Meet, it was dry. The sun even came out for a while.

Afterwards we adjourned to the garden at William's house for tea and birthday cake, with three candles which Will blew out. I'd made a gluten free chocolate swiss roll (extra) so that I could join in while the others were eating the cake.

Will even sat down to listen to me reading The Tiger That Came to Tea, today's subject.

We were lucky with the weather. Before we left, William put on his Gruffalo Child costume. (extra)