The Call of the Giraffe

"What?"

Hanna and Arya arrived earlyish on Friday, and we decided to have a barbecue, since the weather was so nice. Cue cloud cover, occasional rain, and just enough wind to make lighting the barbecue difficult. Despite these challenges, we managed to make a fair helping of meat, plus barbecued corn on the cob, salad, and roast sweet potatoes (although we had to leave the latter on for ages and they were a little overdone for my taste; or maybe I'm not a huge fan of sweet potato.) Arya ate a little meat, two cobs and a heap of fancy slaw.

And then it was bedtime, and we're trying a new thing, the health visitor having given Hanna the exact same advice my Mum gave me, and on basically the same day, to whit that I need to ease back on staying with Arya until she goes to sleep. So, I put her to bed, gave her a kiss and said 'Goodnight, Arya; Daddy loves you very much,' and I left, but after a couple of minutes I went back in and checked, gave her a cuddle, and then said the same thing and went out again. She was asleep in ten minutes. Get in!

On Saturday morning we went - later than planned - to soft play, and let her run around. She's pretty independent, not the best sharer, but in general doesn't need us climbing about after her, which is a relief at first, and then a bit melancholic. I'm glad that she can manage the big slide on her own, but at the same time, I miss the days when she wanted one of us to go with her.

Let sleeping giraffes lie.

That afternoon, Hanna went off and left Arya with me. We spent a while chilling and then went to the shop for milk. Arya immediately grabbed a 2 pint bottle and headed for the till. I called after her, reminding her we needed more milk than that and suggesting a 4 pint bottle.

"But I only like the little bottles."
"But we need more milk."

So back she shot and picked up three more 2 pint bottles. Yay!

Bedtime was less successful this time. She kept wanting me to stay, and wouldn't lie still. In the end I had to retreat to my room because I was tired and I didn't want to shout at her. When she followed me, I lifted her up next to me and we cuddled for a bit, then I did the whole 'goodnight Arya...' but and moved to the foot of the bed. Then again and stood up. By the time I kissed her goodnight and left the room she was out, and didn't wake up even when I moved her back to her bed and the frame of the pull out section gave way underneath us.

Joy!

There was also bouncing.

I slipped the slats back into place, but it went again in the morning, which I knew was a bad sign, so I spent much of the morning examining and trying to repair the bed, while Arya watched altogether too much PAW Patrol season 2, which is even weirder than season 1. She was frankly knackered - I could tell by the way she started keening each time I said she couldn't immediately watch another PAW Patrol episode - and so was I once I'd wrestled the frame about and realised that the wood was blown, leaving nothing to screw the metal supports onto. As a result, it was a lazy day and we've watched nearly all of season 2.

The problem with lazy days, of course, is that they lead to difficult nights. First, I told Arya she'd have to go to bed in Mummy and Daddy's bed, since hers was broken. Was that all right?

No; she wanted to sleep in her bed. Of course she did. So I had to remove a few slats and collapse it into single bed mode, then install the rail. I also moved a chair next to the bed for stories. Naturally, she wanted to lean on the rail and fidgeted about a lot. She wasn't happy with me leaving, and at one point I was sat next door while she called: "Daddy Luke! Daddy Luke!" and waved her rainbow-coloured giraffe* at the monitor. I eventually went back in, and she looked at me and said without irony: "Giraffey** was calling you." Eventually, and despite my having knackered myself again getting her bed back together, she insisted on coming into my room and it took another half hour to get her off to sleep. Ten past nine, from a half-seven bedtime.

This morning she slept until eight, and we let her; oh yes we did. Her awareness of summer sunlight hours has not been kind. Next week should be more normal, so hopefully we'll have plenty of park trips and whatnot to wear her out a bit.

* A present for being brave during her vaccinations.
** According to her birth certificate*** the giraffe's name is Karma. My assumption was that her surname was Cameleopard, you see.
*** Build-a-Bear, okay.