As it doesn’t seem to happen a lot recently, when all 5 of us are together we like to make the most of it. So today we took a trip to Saltwell Park after getting Zac from school. There were various modes of transport options for the babies we could have chose but we opted for the carrier for Max and Sofia walking (brave I know).
Sofia is currently obsessed with footballs or any variety of ball really and Zac is becoming a bit football mad, so in order to save arguments where possible Sofia took her own little basketball and Zac his football. This however means the walk is even slower than usual as Sofia throws her ball, kicks it and falls over it the whole way. But if we happen to stumble across someone else with a ball hers becomes insignificant and she is redirected as she tries to steal someone else’s ball. This happened today and Sofia tried to take a dog’s tennis ball. Stuey then decides to throw this tennis ball for the dog to catch which it does and brings it back to us and not it’s owners – what has he started. Zac throws the ball, dog brings it back and again, again until Zac dummies the dog resulting in the owner having to shout and show the dog that the ball is in fact up the hill and not down. Definitely our que to quickly vacate that field!
We headed to the maze where we were instructed by Zac to play hide and seek tag. By this point Sofia was getting a bit tired of walking so I had to run around the maze carrying her or with her on my shoulders which doesn’t help with the hiding part. Running around with Zac and he finds a shortcut apparently which requires me to climb over a fence… with Sofia on my shoulders. Somehow Zac darling I don’t think that’s going to work, even without Sofia I don’t think I could get myself over that fence.
This week I got a Fitbit and I am currently (no idea how long it will last) so keen to hit my target for my steps. Stuey decided to tell me he had already hit his, personally think he rigged it seen as we had been together all day, so I was determined. Zac so helpfully decided to help me by kicking the balls in different directions whilst shouting “fetch mam”. This was slightly degrading but it got the steps up so I played along. The game quickly got out of hand when he booted the balls into the trees. I was not getting those so I sent Zac in to get them. Sofia was very interested by this so then decided to kick her ball into the trees and point at it for Zac to get it for her and again and again. I think the massive difference between kids and adults is things get old very quickly for us whereas 1 year olds and even 7 year olds could do the same thing over and over again if it was getting a reaction. Distraction was key to stop this game so out came the snacks.
These days anything you have Sofia wants so I have to make sure I’ve packed same amount of snacks for Zac and her. We are all sitting down and they are eating a squeezy yoghurt each. I decided to film Sofia and narrate from her perspective which Zac seemed to find hilarious as 30 seconds in he is spitting his yoghurt out on the grass as he laughing so much. Obviously my first thought is let’s wipe the yoghurt off the grass. Stuey is confused but in about 5 minutes he soon realised why I did it. Sofia is carrying her yoghurt around, trips up and some splats on the grass. So she starts eating the yoghurt off the grass getting bits of grass in her mouth at the same time. I foresaw this happening hence the wiping of the grass. FYI I went and wiped the grass again.
By now, Max has had enough and Sofia id hanging off my legs wanting to be carried then 2 minutes later wanting to walk. She just doesn’t know what she wants which is a sign of her tiredness. We decide to start heading back, this should really take not even 5 minutes but Sofia’s indecisiveness is too much. She spots a bench with a lady sat on it minding her business. Sofia tries to get up and sit next to her I manage to stop that to keep her moving along. Next she stands in front of the lady staring at her with her hand on her knee, the lady is looking pretty uncomfortable but when I apologise she says
“Oh no it’s fine.”
FYI her face is saying the opposite. We eventually move away from the woman and are progressing slowly but surely across the field when she spots the bandstand and it’s steps. Steps are another big distraction for Sofia, I swoop her up and take her away.
She is now making very little progress across the field until she saw 2 little boys playing with a ball. She made a beeline for them ignoring her ball right in front of her. I could see how her mind was working yet these grandparents were saying things like
“Aww the little girl is coming to say hi!”
No. This little girl is coming to steal your ball that both your grandsons have been arguing over. When she sees what she wants she can be pretty speedy so I have to rush over and scoop her up whilst she thrashes her legs protesting. The easiest thing now is just to carry her and get to the car as quick as possible in order to avoid any more situations.
Moral of the story: always bring the pram as a back up and don’t be so hilarious that your kids spit their food out.
My disastrous attempt at juggling 3 children 