Following my post a couple of days ago about DorkySon’s relationship with Binky, I got into a conversation online with another Mum, whose daughter had a similar relationship with her imaginary friend Polla. The mum, Lisa Farrell, very kindly agreed to do a guest post on Polla, which is below. Lisa doesn’t have a blog (although perhaps she should…!) but you can follow her on Twitter here.
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Tag Archives: toddlers
A Tale of Two Paintings
DorkySon is massively into painting just now. He always asks if he can get his paints out about quarter to five – just when I’m about to start cooking his dinner – but because I’m so pleased that he’s got a new interest (which isn’t related to trucks in any way) I’m always happy to spend some time getting messy with him.
Last night I decided to show him one of my favourite things to do with paint – folding a piece of paper in half, putting splodges of colour on one side and then squishing it together to make a ‘beautiful butterfly’.
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I Spy
DorkySon has become a bit obsessed about spelling things recently. We’ll be walking around town and he’ll say ‘Oooh, look at that bus, how do you spell bus Mummy?’. I’ve been getting a lot of odd looks from the good people of Harpenden as I push my son along chanting ‘c-h-e-m-i-s-t’ or ‘C-h-r-i-s-t-m-a-s-T-r-e-e’ or ‘z-e-b-r-a-c-r-o-s-s-i-n-g’.
Anyway, in an attempt to make the whole thing a bit more fun we decided it was time for him to learn about I Spy. What a mistake that was. Although he’s pretty good at working out the first letters of words – he knows that D is for Daddy and M is for Mummy and Gr is for Granny, just like Gr for Great and Green and Grumpy – he doesn’t seem to have quite grasped the concept of the game. Either that or he just likes winding his mother up…
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Settling In: a Butcher, a big pink slide and Benny plays the Blues
We’ve been in our new place just over a week now, and it’s starting to really take shape. DorkyDad spent much of the weekend putting pictures up – how could we not feel at home with Benny the Blues Harmonica Player on our living room wall – and DorkySon and I took advantage of the good weather to get out and explore some more.
We are in a residential neighbourhood; it’s very quiet and feels very safe. There is a beautiful wee park right beside us, filled with crunchy autumn leaves, squirrels and dog walkers. That makes me happy. There is a petrol station across the road, so DorkySon has spent a lot of the last week standing in the window, mesmerised by the constant movement of cars, trucks and tankers. That makes him happy. And on Saturday we finally found two very important things; a wine store and a butcher right beside each other. So that’s DorkyDad happy now too.
DorkySon and I joined the library last week. It took quite a long time… while I sat trying to fill in our forms, and the very patient woman on the desk entered our details into her computer, DorkySon sat and worked his way through a copy of ‘What Car’ magazine, announcing to everyone in the library (at full volume) what his favourite car was on each page. We got there eventually though, and it was well worth the wait. All the children’s books are stored in the ‘carriages’ of a red wooden train, with little benches for sitting on between each carriage. I think we’ll be spending a lot of time in there this winter.
We also found another playground, and met up with two brilliant mums and their kids in an indoor adventure play area. DorkySon spent all morning scooting down an enormous pink slide. Graceful he was not, but his enthusiasm couldn’t be faulted. Later this week we are off to meet another mum (another Edinburgh exile) at something called the Kangaroo Club. I am assured that it doesn’t involve any actual marsupials – just lots of toys and a big space to run around, with unlimited coffee and friendly chat for the parents.
So yes, in short, DorkySon is in toddler heaven. He’s spoilt for choice with fun things to do. He’s also working hard to get his head around DorkyDad’s new job. Earlier in the week he asked if Daddy was out reading poetry all day. ‘No,’ we said. ‘He’s working in an office, asking people for money so that other children can have food and be happy like you are.’
DorkySon let this ferment in his brain for a day or two, and then over the weekend he said ‘Maybe next week I could go with Daddy to his office and meet all the children that he is looking after…’
Bless.
A Perfect Day
So we saved the best until last.
DorkyDad and I haven’t spent much time out and about together this Festival, because we’ve been so busy with work. Work finally finished, for both of us, on Saturday night.
Yesterday was DorkyDad’s birthday, and instead of going out for a meal, or seeing a show, we spent the day sitting on the sofa in our pyjamas, watching Peppa Pig with DorkySon. It was great. At 4pm I finally hauled myself up the road to get a Sunday paper and a pizza for dinner, but that was the sum total of our activity.
On the spur of the moment, about 9pm last night, I decided to see if we could squeeze into the Pommery Bar at the Signet Library on their very last day. Four years ago, we got married there – a magical, happy day in a truly stunning building – and I thought it’d be nice to pop in and see how it was looking.
So this morning, after dropping DorkySon at nursery, we giggled our way across the Meadows, and treated ourselves to a bottle of champagne and a couple of hours reconnecting.
The wonderful folk at Heritage Portfolio have done a great job. The Pommery Bar feels exclusive, but not intimidating in the slightest. The service is friendly and attentive, but not fussy; our glasses always seemed to be full but we were left to chat and admire our surroundings (although I confess that we spent longer watching the reflection of the champagne bubbles in the mirror-topped table than we did staring at the ceiling!). We got a little over-excited when, on the way out, we saw another couple being given a tour of the building and the same spiel we’d been given about why it makes a great wedding venue. “Do it!” we said, rushing up and interrupting their discussion. “We got married here and loved it!”
So that was a great start to the last day. Then on the way home we stopped off, at the Udderbelly, for one of those amazing burgers and chips that I was raving about yesterday. The food was still great… but we got a little distracted. In one of those one-in-a-million, once-in-a-lifetime moments, I looked up from my burger and spotted a bit of graffiti on the wall beside us.
‘I Heart Young Dawkins’
It was written in blue, although the heart was coloured in red. I took a photo, which I will post up here, when I’ve worked out how to get it off my phone.
Wow. Someone liked DorkyDad’s show enough to scribble his name on the wall! That’s crazy. But cool. I am a little bit jealous. But mostly impressed. He hopes it was a girl. I hope it was a guy. Whoever it was, it doesn’t really matter. The chances of us gong to the Udderbelly on the very last day of the Festival, and sitting in that seat, and spotting that writing… I’m not sure how it happened, but I like that it did. And now, as I write this, that wall has probably been removed. It’s in the back of a truck somewhere, and next year it’ll have had a new lick of purple paint, and the graffiti will be gone.
So that was pretty awesome.
And then we came home, and picked DorkySon up from nursery. And then my day really was made. I’ve already bragged about this on Facebook, so apologies to those of you who are encountering my hitherto hidden competitive side for the second time today… but I am truly bursting with pride. The nursery started doing a sticker chart for good behaviour this week, and, on the first day, DorkySon is the only kid to get a gold star on it. For tidying up all the books.
Yes indeed, that is my boy. Those are my boys. And that was my day. It was a good one.
Dorkymum | Stories from Tasmania 