This is what happens when you try and get a ‘nice’ photo of your 4 year old heading off to his first day in reception!
Happily, he did go on to smile nicely for me – you can see the ‘good’ photo here!
A haiku about starting school
I was planning on writing a proper blog post about Rhys starting reception class at school, or perhaps an open letter to him about it. Who knows, maybe I still will in a few days.
But the words won’t come quite yet. I think I’m still processing the whole thing.
So for now, I’ve managed a haiku. All my feelings summed up in 17 syllables.
I’m pretty sure I won’t be the only one shedding a few tears on the drive home from school drop-off this week!
Do the thing
I did something this weekend that I’m really quite proud of. I drove to somewhere new for the first time, on the other side of town. Now, I realise this probably isn’t a big deal for most of you!
But for me, this was huge. I’ve spent the last 10ish years being ridiculously scared of driving. Not to the point of it being a phobia, but to the point of much preferring to walk places, or get a lift, or catch the bus/train instead of having to drive anywhere.
A while ago I googled ‘getting over a fear of driving’, and found that most of the advice was in equal parts both simple and frustrating.
The answer most people came up with is to simply go out and drive.
It seems the only way to get over a fear of driving is to just do it. To get in the car and just start driving. It’s only with the practice and experience that the fear will start to fade away. All well and good, but it’s so damn hard to simply get in the car and drive when you’re terrified!
In the end I was forced to start facing my fear when Rhys started nursery school last year. His school is about a 30 minute walk away, which just wouldn’t have been any fun to do every day, with his baby sister in tow! So I had to take a deep breath and get in the car.
And after a few weeks it did get easier. I started to relax.
But when it came to my epic (haha!) 20 minute drive this weekend, I was still really nervous beforehand. I studied the route on google maps so I knew the way and knew what landmarks to look out for, knocked back some rescue remedy, then I went for it.
And you know what? Within minutes of getting in the car I was fine. So of course then I started to panic about the fact that I wasn’t panicking! Then I relaxed into it, and got there and back without incident. And man alive I felt proud of myself!
I am strangely annoyed though, that all those people on google were right. Because I still want there to be an easier answer! But it does seem to be true that the only way to start fighting a fear of driving is to drive. The only way to deal with any fear is to do the thing you’re scared of.
Now, I know I’m nowhere near ‘cured’ of my fear of driving. The thought of going on the motorway is really not fun!
But I’ve started. I’ve done the thing I fear to do.Now I just have to keep on doing it!
But I’ve started. I’ve done the thing I fear to do.Now I just have to keep on doing it!
Is anyone else out there scared of driving? Or do you absolutely love it?!
Don’t take my photo! (Wicked Wednesdays)
That moment when your Mum’s been busy taking photos of you and your brother for the past hour and you’ve just about had enough. Yeah, that!
Generally my children are fab about having their photo taken, but some days enough is enough!
Enjoy the little things
I wrote yesterday about how the seemingly ‘nothing’ days often end up being the best days, and I really do believe that to be true. I mean, obviously the BIG days are amazing, the fun trips out with the kids, the excitement of going somewhere new.
But I think, when I look back on these days, remembering when my children were small, I think it’s more likely to be these ‘nothing’ days that I will think of most fondly.
Those little moments with my family, cwtched up on the sofa watching a disney film, seeing Nerys copy the signing on Something Special, marvelling at Rhys’ growing creativity as he makes figures with his play dough.
Those little things really are the big things. They’re what life is really all about.
‘Nothing’ days are often the best days!
We had a real ‘nothing’ day the other day. The weather was pretty miserable so we didn’t fancy going out anywhere, so instead we stayed home. We watched Rio, we pottered about, we built houses out of mega blocks, we cwtched on the sofa.
It was a great day!
So often we’re made to feel that we have to ‘do’ something with our kids, to take them out somewhere special, to entertain them. I think the best days are often actually these ‘nothing’ days. These are the days where we actually spend good quality time together.
I took these photos as part of a playbreak challenge that the Beloved community is hosting. You can see all 24 photos over on my photography business page, but these are some of my favourites! I love capturing these everyday moments. This is my family just being themselves. No posing, no camera smiles. Just them, their natural expressions, busy doing their thing.
Maybe I’m odd, I don’t know, but I quite like it when it’s rainy out and we can just stay cwtched up inside!
How about you? Do you enjoy these ‘nothing’ days or do you prefer to be on the go?
This is why we can’t have nice things! (Wicked Wednesdays)
What’s that lovely hand-shaped mark on my sofa?
Oh, just a white chocolate hand print. Seems that Nerys likes to hold on to her chocolate just long enough for it to melt all over her hands before eating it!
This is why we can’t have nice things!
