The Wilds of Weariness

Arya demanded this picture. If this wasn't her Baby I'd worry she wanted
proof of life.

This weekend has been one of trials and tribulations, for we have all been very sleepy.

Arya called me at around about six o'clock on Saturday morning. I hoped she might go back to sleep if I went in with her, but having moved I had to use the toilet, and so she got up as well. By the time we woke Hanna up, we were moving in to second breakfast territory and had already watched slightly more Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave than I was entirely comfortable with.

At Tumble Tots, Arya was quite clingy again, and I really do think that she finds the rest of the older group a little too boisterous, especially when she's tired. I don't blame her. I find them a bit much and I used to teach nine year olds.

Shot from above, Arya wierdly foreshortens
into a Pop.

We shopped and then went to the Country Park for a picnic. Arya was a little dubious about her new flipflops (although I suspect she would have been distraught this morning to find they were, as planned, left at my place, since she really wanted to show them off at nursery,) but had fun on the slides and trampoline and even climbed the weird cable frame a bit. All told, the big playground is perhaps just a little too visually stimulating, as she did occasionally wander a little close to occupied swings for comfort, but she had fun.

In the evening we had pizza, per her request of last week, which went down a treat (although I suspect that if she could leave out the bread part entirely she might.) Hanna made the dough for the base, which turns out to be way easier with a proper dough hook.

Arya got off to sleep pretty quickly, because she was knackered. I went in with her overnight to try to keep her settled, and we didn't get up until just before seven. Through the morning, I was very strict and we were light on the Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave (which I will write up on the other blog as a Watch with Father entry,) but Arya was increasingly tired and fractious. She got very upset when Mummy brushed her hair and tugged at the tangles, despite most if not all of the tugging happening when she moved her head. Likewise, when I took her for a bath she was initially keen, but after being very good with wetting her hair and doing the shampoo (I showed her how to work it through her hair for herself,) she refused to let me rinse.

"Put your head back and close your eyes."
"No! I don't want it in my eyes!"
"Put your head back and close your eyes and it won't go in your eyes."
"No! I don't want it in my eyes!"

I was literally ready to let her get out without rinsing and find out how gnarly her hair would get by the time Hanna came in to help, and Hanna had been asleep when we started, so I felt terrible; not just for waking Hanna, but for shouting at Arya. That's probably why we followed that by watching just about every episode of Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave on the iPlayer.

At about dinner time, Arya wanted to got to the park, which we did as she hadn't otherwise been out all day. We had to be quite brief, however, and to get her to leave I had to sort of promise ice cream. I don't intentionally offer bribes, it just works out that way. In this instance, she was standing on the zipline platform pretending to sell me ice cream while I tried to persuade her to leave and suddenly:

Good times.

"Can we get ice cream at the shop?"

"Maybe, if we go right now."

I know it's bad, but I was getting desperate. It's like how if you were locked in a glass case by a supervillain and it was slowly filling with water, you wouldn't not cut the glass just because you knew that the cutter was made using conflict diamonds.

Getting her ready for bed proved tricky, and I am increasingly concerned - which when I'm tired comes out as frustration - with her failure to understand washing hands. She knows what to do, and that we won't let her not wash her hands after using the toilet, but she puts it off and puts it off and sticks her fingers in her mouth while she's doing it.

And yet, for all that I know I will have an uninterrupted night's sleep and maybe a chance to get the theme tune to Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave out of my head, I feel sad watching her go. I miss her, and Hanna, during the weeks; that's part of why I feel bad when I let myself get frustrated with her in the time we do have together.