Baby it's cold out here

Sometimes, there's a reversal of roles. On a normal day, you will see me continuously trying to entice a reluctant 3 year old to move, put on her clothes, her jacket, jump into the car, eat her tea, move on, get places in time because we're running late.

This time however, it was a 3 year old getting rather annoyed with mummy not moving because she was taking rather a lot of photos.
Not an easy task either, while wearing a rather actively kicking baby and struggling to hold that lense still enough, or reaching just that perfect angle on the scene.

What can I say but that it was even more magical than these pictures tell.

A foggy and ice cold day in Linn Park spent with exploring kids and a camera. How lucky are we to be in walking distance of this gem of a park.

While I had my lense glued to ice crystals, the kids explored beaches, waterfalls, icicles and how to write on frost. The were fishing with sticks and putting on shows, letting their imagination run free.

I learned how the outdoors (and it doesn't have to be the "great outdoors", call it the "small outdoors" of city greenspaces) are a natural "yes" environment, a place where children can do, a place where parents for once can do without the ever present "no" of indoor spaces. Here the children can touch, can learn, can roam, can hop, can climb, can do everything without hitting constant boundaries.

It's transformational for both child and parent. We both relax, recharge and are able to reset the litany of setting and running into boundaries. A fresh start, a welcome reprieve, a space to reconnect.

And take photos of this special winter landscape of course.

And if you think you may have seen similar, if better, ice photos somewhere else, this is true and yet purely coincidental as we both live in Scotland. I'm just a bit slower uploading and editing ;) I can only recommend you hop over to Slugs on the Refrigerator if you want to see more of such winter goodness.

First day home

We got out of hospital early. Which was great because it's a good sign. I longed to be out in the snow that I saw fall from my 7th floor viewing point. The reality is always different. The hospital did my routine, between doctor's visit, checks, medication, canteen, and lots of television (x-factor and I'm a celebrity are just perfect for keeping your mind off things) - now at home things are a bit all over the place. Cubling missed me and asked not to go to nursery. When I also realised the effort involved in undigging the snowed in car it just seemed a ridiculous effort to get her to nursery. So I spent the day with the girls, went out in the now with sledge and camera. Not that we ventured far, but enough to be amazed by the snow.

 

Snowflake is also a bit clingy still and has started teething, so not the happiest camper. Of course that's nothing in comparison to what she has been through, just that two clingy kids make any attempt at carrying on as normal a bit fraught. Our almost picture perfect routine pre-hospital has been truly shaken up. It'll be some time before we're back to normal.

 

All the well wishes are so appreciated, the text messages, blog comments and cards received and read in hospital kept me together, when days blurred into one another and I felt lonely and miles away from my normal life.

I will post about what happened, but not today. Instead, why not have a look at this months bilingual blogging carnival (I don't have a post in it this time for obvious reasons). There's some great posts, and new blogs to discover.