Quick one

Well this will have to be a very summarized catch-up.

Picnics: Missed one on Sunday due to the vagaries of Sunday timetables and leaving it a bit late, but went to Glo and Shula's excellent picnic in Q. Park, Btn on Saturday. F had such a good time. At first she just played on her own and did her own things, then she made a massive assertive bid for Jessica's friendship, which worked, luckily for her! Jess had been up by the picnic area, where we had been making big bubbles. As Jess left, F watched her go, came to a decision and called out loudly 'Hey, Jess, come back!' in a very friendly and only slightly bossy way, not whiney. Jess came back, smiled, took F's hand and they spent the rest of the afternoon together. At one stage I asked F to give Jess some space (I think she's about 18 months older than F), but Jess said she was fine. It was lovely to see them together. F was so happy and had a wonderful time, exploring, getting wet and lost (I was seconds away from ringing park warden!) and playing in the playground. It's a lovely city park, Q. Park. Jess and Joe really seem to be settling with Glo and Shula, they have been there nearly a year. Problems are still coming up but I think they are all getting more used to each other and with how they deal with the difficult times.

F went with J to visit J's mum one day and they went on a funicular railway and generally did a bit of seafront wandering. I had 6 hours at home to myself, which was thoroughly enjoyable! They returned with a really nice pink top, bought because it was windier than thought on the cliffs, and another My Little Equine Freak.
A couple of trips into town and into Btn, bit of shopping, bit of eating out - bought Watership Down on DVD, a few books, F bought another pony with her piggy-bank money, I bought some bubble mixture, still very into bubbles here. We browsed in toy-shops asking F to think about what she would like for her birthday. Got a few ideas. We haven't got any more room for anything big, so that limits it a bit.

Physio: F has developed some tightness in her right ankle and we need to do foot crunches with her 3 times a day, to keep up with her growth and to keep the range of movement. We are also doing a bit more work on her arm/hand too.

Yoga: Continues to be fabulous for F, she really focuses on her body and on making it do something that is difficult for it, getting symmetrical, balancing, straightening.

Today, J has gone back to work, I have some work too. F has been writing in a little 'Princess Diary' - she was writing pairs and groups of words that go together, asking me for the spellings: horse, pony and donkey; cat and mouse; telly and computer; bucket and spade; robot and monster; bath bomb (We love them, am thinking of getting a kit for her birthday), bubbles and soap, etc. (Just looked back a year ago on my blog and she had just written a 'B' for the first time!) She has also been improvising little songs (happy girl) and watching Shrek 2 and accompanying me on a couple of chores. This morning we made some googly gear people. We took it in turns to design one and the other person had to copy it, or make it at the same time, finding the same pieces to use in the same order. That was fun. F had already made the Princess, Prince, King and Queen and we made 2 servants, 2 knights and a fairy.
Other than that, we have mainly been chatting and reading My Secret Unicorn - checked out the bookshops in Brighton and there is a whole genre of magic/flying pony/unicorn books - Who Knew?!?!?!? The joy!