Living Arrows

Living Arrows is a weekly linky celebrating childhood. The project originally took its name from a poem by Kahlil Gibran, “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth” and every Monday I share what we’ve been up to during the past week along with a picture of each of the boys.

I’ve been writing these posts since January 2014 and you can find all of the posts below.

- Sarah 8 Comments

Living Arrows 18/52 (2017)

It’s been a mixed week this week – I started it with a bit of a sore throat and by Thursday I had full blown tonsillitis (again!). We had been invited to the Trafford Centre for a Q&A with Jo Frost though so I filled up on painkillers and throat spray and off we went. I was slightly apprehensive about taking both boys to an event on my own but they were both really well behaved.

This picture of Toby was when we had just arrived and I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the place!

Toby looking awed by the size of the Trafford Centre

I was feeling slightly better on Friday so while Gabe had a nap Toby and I made chocolate cupcakes. Read more

- Sarah 4 Comments

Living Arrows 17/52 (2017)

After last Monday’s visit to the Gruffalo trail at Grizedale forest the rest of the week was back to normal with nursery for the boys and time to catch up on some housework for me.

On Friday we went to our local forest playgroup for the first time. Toby really enjoyed learning all about bees and doing some bee related crafts. And Gabe enjoyed most of the session in the carrier on my back, which saved me spending the whole time chasing him around! We’ll definitely be back again soon.

The weekend saw a trip to the park, pizza for tea (we even went out for it!), and a visit to soft play as one of Toby’s reward chart treats. Toby and Barry also planted some seeds and put them out on our balcony, hopefully they’ll grow and we’ll have some lovely flowers soon.

I took this week’s Living Arrows photos out in the garden yesterday afternoon while the seed planting was going on…

Toby in the garden with the sun in his hair
Toby has been a little superstar lately (most of the time at least). Read more

- Sarah 5 Comments

Living Arrows 16/52 (2017)

I’m a little late with this post this week – the long weekend has put me all out of sync. Actually though the main reason is that I fell asleep when I was putting Toby to bed last night so I didn’t get round to getting my computer out!

Last week’s sun seems to have mostly disappeared this week and we’ve had a pretty quiet Easter weekend. Last Monday though we met my friend Claire and her twins at a park near Warrington (we do a lot of meeting in Warrington as it’s about half way between our houses). It was very busy with it being the school holidays but we found a quiet spot to have a picnic and the boys all had fun running around.

Gabe showing his independence in the park

Gabe is a funny little character sometimes. Read more

- Sarah 11 Comments

Living Arrows 15/52 (2017)

Week 15 and it seems like spring has finally sprung! We’ve been having some lovely weather this week, and especially this weekend.

On Tuesday Toby had a day off nursery (mostly to save a bit of money as he doesn’t get his funded hours during the school holidays) but Gabe still went in so we had a mummy and son day. We didn’t do too much – we played with some of the games we don’t usually get out when Gabe is around, and then we went out to run a few errands and have an ice cream. We don’t get much time, just Toby and I on our own very often, except when Gabe is napping, so it was lovely to have a day just the two of us.

We had a little bit more one on one time on Friday too, but that wasn’t quite so much fun as it was for Toby to have his preschool immunisations. We decided to tell him what was going to happen but that meant he was scared before he even got there. He was OK in the end really. He wailed when they did it but recovered fairly quickly when I produced a new Gruffalo toy and a Kinder egg! He has complained about sore arms a couple of times but otherwise seems to be fine so far.

Gabe on the other hand has been grumpy all week. I’m not sure what’s wrong with him – possibly teeth, or a cold, or just some sort of virus. He’s had a couple of little spots on his face but nowhere else, and on Saturday woke up with sticky eyes which have mostly cleared up now. He’s been off his food a bit though and just exceptionally clingy and whingey. Hopefully whatever it is it will pass quickly.

Despite Gabe’s grumpiness we decided to make the most of the lovely weather this weekend, and as Toby’s reward for reaching the end of his chart that I mentioned last week, we went to the beach on Saturday. We were planning on going after lunch but after fighting to fit the car seats into our new car for ages it ended up being almost 3 pm before we set off. Read more

- Sarah 10 Comments

Living Arrows 14/52 (2017)

It’s been another fairly quiet week but a busy weekend. On Tuesday Barry and I did manage to go out for lunch on our own which is a pretty rare occurrence. I was working on Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday were quiet days pottering around at home. We had one of our usual walks to the shops and the park on Friday, and Toby has realised that the ice cream van is often near the park so we had a little treat too.

We’ve been using a reward chart with Toby for the last couple of weeks – he had started wetting himself nearly every day after being dry for months and it was just through sheer laziness. He had also got into the habit of getting up early and coming into our bed, which I don’t really mind too much but Gabe is usually in there too and he was waking him up as well.

Toby in Cartmel

So anyway, we made a chart which was ‘Toby’s race to the beach’ and he could move a space nearer to the beach for every day he had dry pants, for every morning he stayed in bed until the sun came out on his Gro-clock and extra spaces for being especially kind or helpful. We added in smaller rewards along the way -Toby is a bit obsessed with Kinder Eggs at the moment so they featured quite heavily, but we’d also put in a trip to soft play when he was getting towards the end of the chart. Read more

- Sarah 11 Comments

Living Arrows 13/52 (2017)

Another week done, and not a huge amount achieved. Sometimes it feels like we never really do anything but then maybe we don’t really need to. The boys have both got colds at the moment. They managed their two days at nursery but the rest of the week has mostly been spent at home, and I have been wiping noses every five minutes!

This weekend though it was my dad’s birthday so we went out for a meal. Eating out is a bit tricky at the moment. It has to be early enough for the boys to not be too hungry or too tired…and we don’t always get it quite right. Gabe huge fan of sitting in a highchair unless there’s food in front of him, and even then he’s not always that keen! Read more

- Sarah 13 Comments

Living Arrows 12/52 (2017)

After our busy week at Bluestone we’ve had a quiet week at home this last week. We had a few walks to the post office, a visit from my mum and a drive to the supermarket (with a cheeky Costa coffee trip too). And this weekend we made it as far as the garden centre for cake!

Yesterday Toby did some painting with his dad – we’ve had a Clangers solar system mobile kit for ages and after Toby spotted it the other day he was desperate to do it. So I put daddy on crafting duty while Gabe had a nap and I got on with some work. It was lovely to see them working on something together and Toby really enjoyed it.

Toby doing some crafting with his daddy

Unfortunately Gabe’s good sleep of our holiday hasn’t carried on Read more

- Sarah 15 Comments

Living Arrows 11/52 (2017)

Last week we were staying at Bluestone National Park Resort in Wales and we had a fab time. I’ll be writing a proper post all about it soon but we really did have a great week. This was helped enormously by the fact that both boys slept very well – Gabe even made it all the way to 5:30 am before waking up (twice) and even then went back to sleep again until after 7! Barry and I managed to watch all four Hunger Games films while we were away so they must have been sleeping well!

The weather wasn’t great for most of the week but on our last full day there the sun shone and Toby and Gabe got chance to explore the toddler play area. Gabe seems to have come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of weeks both in his physical and mental development. He was loving exploring the park and it was small enough that we could let him loose a little bit…

Gabe exploring the tunnel in the play area at Bluestone

On our way home we went to stay with my friend Claire who lives near Chester and had a day out at The Ice Cream Farm. Read more

- Sarah 3 Comments

Living Arrows 10/52 (2017)

I’ve been quite good this year at linking up my Living Arrows posts on a Monday and sharing pictures from the previous week. But we didn’t really do much last week, Gabe was ill again, and I didn’t get the big camera out once.

So I’m a little late this week, and these pictures were taken today on the beach at Tenby. We’re on holiday at Bluestone National Park resort in Wales this week (and I’ll be writing all about it when we get home). The weather hasn’t been great so far but we’re having a lot of fun and the boys loved it on the beach today, even if it was raining!

Toby next to the sea wall in Tenby

Gabe on the beach at Tenby

Oh, and I can’t take credit for these photos – Barry took them and I thought they were too good not to share.

Living Arrows
- Sarah 10 Comments

Living Arrows 9/52 (2017)

This week’s Living Arrows photos were taken this weekend. We went to a Christening / birthday party on Saturday but didn’t really have any plans for Sunday. Toby was going a bit stir crazy in the house so we just went out onto the street outside our house for him to have a scoot up and down and burn off a bit of energy.

I actually took loads of photos of him scooting and then pulling silly faces but I really like this one with the serious expression on his face…

Toby does a serious face

And when we came inside Gabe had got up from his nap and I still had the camera out so I got a few shots of him too. Read more