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| The joy of reaching things. |
So, you may have noticed the lack of an update last week; that's because I've been with Arya all week (yay!) to provide moral support visiting her mother's sick Gran (not yay.)
Last weekend was a weekend much like any other. Arya was in a Mummy mood on Friday, but let me put her to bed on Saturday after the usual gamut of Tumble Tots and all. We had a bit of an afternoon when she decided she didn't want to use the toilet and that my using access to
Sarah & Duck as leverage was not on. I am sad that videos don't share properly, so I can't show you Arya telling me off and then trying to confiscate my phone.
On Sunday we piled into the car after a large breakfast and headed for Leeds by the circuitous route that the Satnav recommended. It worked and got us there in fine time, but we had some nervous moments around the back roads. We stopped briefly to use the toilets at a MacDonald's, and guilt made us purchase something; in this case a Happy Meal that went uneaten; Arya was however very taken with the prospect of a Hello Kitty watch. It rolls loosely on her tiny wrist, but has a picture of Hello Kitty Catwoman on it, so that's weird.
In Leeds, we went to Hanna's parents, where Great-Gran seemed to know us, more or less (or may have just been asserting that she remembered me out of stubbornness.) Anyway, she was very taken with Arya, which I tried to capture in a photo. Unfortunately, she is reluctant to be photographed with Arya, so I couldn't ask her to repeat that perfect smile I just missed as she watched Arya playing. Arya was a little nervous of all the people she hadn't seen in a while, and of the dogs, but utterly delighted by the presence of stairs.
We were staying with friends of Hanna (Linette and Dan) whom I actually 'met' years before through LiveJournal (roleplaying is a small world.) Their stairs were also a hit, as was the array of exciting tat in their spare room (the golden snitch was a focus, but I notice she went first and foremost straight for the sonic screwdrivers.) This did make it hard to get her to settle, since everything was
so exciting, but in the end we tucked her up and she actually went to sleep with Mummy, which was lovely.
In the morning we met up with Grandma Scot (or Spot, as Arya insisted when she could be persuaded away from using 'Granny Spain' as a generic term for all grandmothers,) for a trip to the White Rose shopping centre. We got a trolley with a small basket and a little car that Arya could sit in, which she totally adored right up until she realised that there were pink ones (there hadn't been when we picked ours up.) Now she wants a pink trolley car every time we go shopping anywhere. We got her a pack of pens and a pad to carry around with her, and a couple of new toys from Build-a-Bear. We went in and asked what she fancied and she said: "The pink one!" So now she has Katie Bear, a candyfloss pink, big-eyed horror that smells of cheap fruit chews, and Taren, a bubblegum reindeer with candy-stripe antlers shaped like lobster claws.
Grandma also bought her a
Frozen hairband with an Elsa braid, which was the cause of considerable fuss throughout the week. We tried not to be too cranky about this, as it's been a years since Grandma has got to see Arya.
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| Arya and Dogs. |
After shopping, with hit up a local soft play place, where they appeared to be out of every conceivable kind of food, an instance I've run into enough in the last week to start worrying about impending global famine. This gave Arya a chance to run off some of the excess energy she built up on the long drive the day before, and she was much less turbulent thereafter.
After another slightly rocky night in unfamiliar beds, we went to Grandma Scott's again. It was her birthday, but Arya would not be convinced to say Happy Birthday; whenever we asked she looked at us as if it were a trap. For the third morning in a row we ate a cooked breakfast before heading out to start the day.
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The wheelbarrow makes this blatant theft
of museum property into performance art. |
We took Arya to Leeds Museum. She was very taken with the stuffed tigers, especially the 'happy' (non-snarling) one. We had a bit of a rocky start, with Arya eager to run around, regardless of whether we could see her or were talking to her, but we settled her with a puppet show in the old theatre (not, if I'm honest, our best work) and she played happily in the children's area adjacent to the LBGT*Q in Leeds displays, and only twice attempted to walk off with a toy wheelbarrow stacked with other toys. This is what comes of dressing a child in an almost stolen cow-print sleepsuit.
After the museum we went to Wetherspoons for lunch. They were out of pulled pork, but we still managed to account for a scary quantity of protein for the price. We headed home via the shop where Linette sells her craft products, and Arya decided that clearly their doors were open by mistake, then tried to get me to go up the down escalator.
This was all well and good, but once we got home we hit an increasing resistance to proper toilet training. She'd been getting pretty good, but now she didn't want to go (until it was too late,) and when she did try to use the toilet, refused to wash her hands until we told her that all her toys would be put away out of reach until her hands were clean. This only got worse as she got more tired, until at dinner she howled and wept when I tried to take her to use the toilet at all.
Dinner was courtesy of Linette and Dan, at 2 Oxford Place, a gluten free restaurant. Hanna went into complete lock-down given a choice of gluten free foods. Arya agreed to share her parfait, but when most of it fell off just gave me a piece of largely dry toast with a thin scraping of parfait. She managed a little spaghetti, but was by this point too tired to do much except consume a bowl of ice cream like a trouper and try to head into the upstairs dining area in the hope of finding a more exciting toilet. She was, however, a star when it came to squeezing five people into the car, and went to sleep more or less immediately.
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| "It's snoring!" |
On Wednesday we had a slow morning, did some shopping, then went to Grandma's where she went a little crazy. She was super tired, I think, and yet energised, and insisted on trying to tickle my throat and eyes. I ma trying to teach her the general applicability of the mantra 'not in the face', but so far with variable success. After lunch, we took her to Swithen's Farm to look at animals. The donkeys were a hit, the snoring pig even more so. The wandering goat she was less keen on and found it a bit intimidating. They did also have a soft play area, however, and that was great for working off energy, racing up and zipping down a curly tube slide that I could not force myself to approach.
After dinner, we loaded her into the car and set off for home. She asked to listen to
Muppet's Christmas Carol, and made it all the way through, but when we wouldn't restart it she barely had the energy to protest and was asleep in minutes, waking up late in her own bed at home.
Thursday we had a
very slow morning. A little shopping and it was lunchtime, and then we went to Treetops. Honestly, she was a little quieter than usual, but all in all seemed okay. We left when the after-school crowd arrived, because they were wicked rowdy. I was very impressed that when some idiot was standing on the slide when she wanted to go down it, she called 'excuse me!' to get his attention.
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We made the cakes about a week
before and then forgot to take them
with us to Leeds. |
On Friday, I threw my back out picking Arya up, so as Hanna was going away she called for Andrew to come and help me out. We went to the library and she chose some books, then we bought a new puzzle. I promised her one ages ago, just as soon as she got good at doing them, and this was the first chance I had to make good. We got one with a giraffe on it, because she likes giraffes. At home we read and did puzzles for much of the rest of the day; it was all I was up to, but did leave her a little wired in the evening.
We also decorated some cupcakes, but mixing the icing was a baptism of sugar.
On Saturday we messed up the buses again. I
think it now comes like two minutes earlier than it used to. Anyway, we missed it, then missed a train, and for good measure the wind was bitter and someone had left a dead cat in a blanket by the side of the road. What with one thing and another then, we missed Tumble Tots, which was sad-making. Instead, we decided to go into Ely and check out yet another soft play. Because I'm a genius I suggested we get the bus in, so Arya could get her proper public transport fix.
On the bus, Arya shared the back seat with three boys, one of who was very taken with her. I doubt he was more than four, but at pains to disown his two 'silly' brothers and impress her with claims of owning his own owl. I wandered if I'd need to step in, but Arya held her own, introducing 'my two daddies' and asking him 'and what's your name?' when she realised she didn't know. (It was Eddie.)
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I should probably worry when my
daughter looks like a poster child
for Shelter. |
I won't lie, we did a
lot of walking. Eventually, we got to the soft play (it was okay, but expensive) and I was amazed she had any energy left, but she was up and at it. She started in the under 4s area, but a couple of four year olds got rowdy when she started throwing balls out of the ball pit so she went to the over 4s area where they play more nicely. We ate there, although they ran out of GF mac and cheese and had to go to Sainsbury's to get some more. They'd already made our paninis by then, so she had to sit buy and eat our corn chips. When the mac and cheese arrived, she basically sat and ate chips dipped in the sauce.
It was a tiring outing, but I'm glad we did it. Arya didn't sleep until quite late, but slept through to about 8 or 9 o'clock. We went out to the park, but that was a mixed success. Initially chipper, she got very cold, especially her hands, and it turned out Andrew had taken her gloves with him to the shop. I think she also had an accident, and got very tearful for Mummy until we could get her home and warm and cleaned up.
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| Big swing! |
After that, she tried to eat Daddy Andrew, but refused to accept that having gorged on parent she
must need the toilet. Mind you, at this point she seemed to be trying to engage in conversation using only the names of characters from
Frozen.
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| She's behind me, isn't she? |
"Arya; do you need to try to use the toilet?"
"Princess Anna?"
She was dead excited to see Mummy and clung to her most of the evening, and even explained her actions of earlier.
"Why (were you eating Daddy Andrew)?"
"Because he was standing there."
So there you go.
They all went home after dinner, which was a wrench after more than a week. I shall miss her terribly until next weekend.
