So this post is the first of my fourth year of taking part in the Living Arrows project. It really is fabulous to have a weekly record of the boys and see how much they grow and develop. And just to show you how much they’ve changed, here is Toby in the first ever Living Arrows picture I took…
And the picture from week one of 2015… Read more
At home Toby has always loved climbing all over the furniture, and us! Whenever we were at the park or soft play though he seemed to lose some of that confidence and would only try things with one of us holding him, or sometimes not all.
In the last few weeks though he seems to have suddenly grown in confidence. He is trying things he wouldn’t go near a month ago and what’s more he’s really enjoying it.
Last weekend at the park he climbed up one of those cargo nets for the first time. I could see his legs shaking but he held on and made it to the top. He was so pleased with himself too.
And then he was happy to spin round and round on the roundabout until he got dizzy!
Yesterday we went to soft play and although Toby is usually OK once he gets going whenever we’ve gone before he’s needed one of us to go in with him. Not today though. It was pretty quiet and I think that helped, and of course being a school day there weren’t any big kids about but he ran off into the pre-school section without a backwards glance! He kept coming back to report what he’d done – ‘I went on the blue slide mummy’, ‘I went through the tunnel mummy’ which was very sweet but I didn’t have to go in with him at all.
And then he decided he wanted to go into the over 4s section. There were a few bigger kids in there but there can’t have been anyone over 5. I went in with him the first time just so he could find his way around and I could make sure he didn’t get stuck! He was walking over nets and bridges which he’s never done without a lot of encouragement before. He went down a spiral slide which I’ve never been able to convince him to do before.
And he went down the massive slide all by himself too. Usually I have to come down on the other slide with him on this kind of slide and he’s never been on one this big before. Look how much fun he’s having though!
I’m sure over the coming weeks and months we are just going to see Toby’s confidence growing and growing. My big little boy is growing up!
If you read my post last week you’ll know there’s an awesome park where we live. Well, yesterday, as at last the rain and wind stopped and we got some sunshine, I met my friend Claire and her twins Thomas and Edward there so the boys could all get some fresh air and run off a bit of energy. [And I took a lot of pictures so this is going to be a very photo heavy post].
We were exploring a different part of the park to last week though. We started off at the old train engine that has recently been painted and re-sited in the park.
It’s not really for playing on but you can go up on the footplate, which all the boys managed to get up to but they needed a hand to come back down.
From the train we headed off to find some puddles. This one was a bit rubbish really but the boys happily spent 10 minutes throwing sticks and leaves into it.
And then we saw some squirrels. There are loads of them in the park and guess they’re pretty used to people. Toby and Thomas stood shouting ‘squirrel, squirrel’ at these two and they actually came right up to them instead of running away.
Down another path and we came to a bridge that was perfect for throwing sticks down into the water below. This bridge is actually the one we walked under last week.
And then it was time for some squirrel chasing. This time they did run away but Toby and Thomas spent ages chasing after them just shouting ‘squirrel’.
Toby got a bit stuck in the mud at one point and was a bit perturbed by his muddy boots, which weren’t even that muddy!
There really were loads of squirrels today. Some of them were brave enough to get pretty close too.
There was some great light, and Toby stayed still long enough for me to get this picture. It’s not quite what I was aiming for but photography whilst pushing a buggy and making sure a toddler doesn’t fall into a massive ravine isn’t that easy!
Then we walked back up the hill to the part of the park where the big open spaces are. Somewhere off in the distance there are the Forth bridges.
There was time for a bit more puddle wading…
Before a well-earned sit down and a biscuit.
Toby, Thomas and Edward had a great time in the park (we didn’t name them all after Tank Engines on purpose by the way). Looking at these photos makes me realise just how tall Toby is – he’s only three months older than the twins but he’s a full head and shoulders tall than them!
Oh, and Gabe? Gabe slept through the whole thing. I guess he can do his exploring another day.
Where we live there is a big public park known locally as the Glen; it has three different play parks, a cafe, a museum, lots of open space and then down the side there runs a burn which leads through the woods to the Abbey and the walk back to the car takes us past the ruins of the old Abbey too.
When Barry first moved to Scotland we quite often would go for Sunday morning strolls alongside the burn and up to town to blow away the cobwebs hangover but since having the kids, although we go to other parts of the park sort of regularly, we haven’t really been down by the water.
This weekend though the rain stopped for the first time in what feels like months and we decided to get out of the house and go for a bit of an explore. (And that’s Toby doing his tiger impression in the photo above!)
It’s always a bit of a mission to get out and do anything with both kids but Toby doesn’t really care where we go as long as he gets to wear his wellies and pick up some good sticks, and Gabe was happy having a nap in the carrier.
We really enjoyed our walk looking at the water and watching the squirrels.
And there are a few different bridges to go over and under, and steps to climb.
Even though I’ve walked this way loads of times before, Toby hasn’t and it was so much fun to see him enjoying himself and seeing it all for the first time.
Toby can happily walk quite a long way these days so it does open up the possibilities for adventuring a bit more. Hopefully the weather will start to improve soon and we can get out and about a bit more. He’s definitely happier running about outside than he is cooped up in the house. And Gabe will always have a good sleep in the carrier, and it’s actually much easier than trying to get him to nap at home!
We just have to be really careful we don’t tire Toby out so much that he has a danger nap in the car on the way home – afternoon naps these days can put bedtime off by a good couple of hours so we can’t go too far away for now at least!
We’ve been talking about taking Toby to the park for a go on the swings for a few weeks now but either we haven’t had the time, or the weather has been horrible, but yesterday the sun was shining so we bundled him up and headed to one of our many local parks.
I’m not sure Toby was entirely convinced about his first go on the swing – I’m sure he’ll work out soon enough that it’s supposed to be fun!
We did manage to catch this little smile though…
I’m sure that going to the park will soon turn into an ordinary moment for us. I can’t wait until the weather gets a bit better, and Toby gets a bit bigger, so we can enjoy trips to the park. There are loads of little play parks all round the different bits of housing estates round here and we’ve also got a huge park in town that has got a lovely cafe and what looks like an awesome playground (although I haven’t tried it myself!).
And if you fancy a bit of video, here’s Toby in action!
