Flashes Of Good

On the face of it today seemed grey and miserable. The sky was heavy and grey and we woke to the sound of heavy rain on the window pane. Another wet walk to school. Wet coats,wet bags and maybe even wet socks,depending on how many puddles my youngest son had managed to accidentally tread in. Amazing really,you'd think the puddles had magnets that were pulling Chips into them or little voices that were calling "Hey,come and walk through me,you know you want too,c'mon I wont wet you,trust me" and then kablam as soon as Chips went within a hundred mile radius of them he would develop wet shoes,wet socks and wet feet that would stay wet 'all' day long. Wet school runs are not joyous. Especially in the mornings.

But,can you believe this,the rain actually did stop before the school run began.Not entirely,there was still a few stray raindrops,enough to put my hood up for,but compared to the previous heavy downpour it was nothing. We were able to chatter our way down to school/work without too much discomfort.

Flashes of good.

The day proved busy,as normal,no sooner had we arrived at my workplace then Chips headed off for his school and the care I saw from his friend and my friend as he walked off was touching to say the least. That boy was totally surrounded by love. And I got a glimpse of it,lucky me.

Flashes of good.

Funniest thing about it though,was Chips response to the situation,boy oh boy did he lap it up! Typical male. I don't know what was best to see,the absolute care or the yes mollycoddle me look from my boy. Ahh,everybody needs some fuss sometimes,it never hurts to be loved does it.

This week at work I have been making porridge,yep it was Goldilocks week. Porridge,Porridge,Porridge and then even more porridge! Enough porridge to feed The Three Bears,Goldilocks,Red Riding Hood,Cinderella,Jack and his Giant,The Big Bad Wolf and Class One too.

The start of the porridge making was bad,for lots of different reasons,all of them out of my control. But the childrens reaction to the porridge making was good. So very good. Enough to make me think how lucky I was to work with little ones. Their little faces as they measured out the oats and mixed the milk in and then decided whether or not to add honey was more than a pleasure to see. And as each day went by, the porridge making got better. And we laughed and mixed and asked such good questions and had a whale of a time. From something that began terribly such good came out of it.

Flashes of good.

That afternoon after school was swim night. I love seeing Chips swim but it's one heck of a hectic night. This has not been enhanced by the moving to four o'clock swim lessons. Let me tell you about my thoughts about four o'clock swim lessons.

Basically they are hell.

That says it all in four short words. Now let me tell you why I think this is so.

Well it has to be the changing rooms or should I say....what goes on in those changing rooms. There are children crying,mums yelling and shrieking,smacks,it's like a war zone. Chips and I stand in amazement. I am no means a saint in those changing rooms,sometimes I hiss at Chips,not often but it has been known and sometimes I roll my eyes at him and sit on the bench and zone out while I let him get on with things,this is usually when he is unreasonable about getting dressed or undressed or about the 'swim hat' but it's nothing compared to what I hear coming from the other cubicles. Sometimes I do a funny little thing of pointing out other styles of parenting to Chips ( I know this is not good but yep I do do it )
 I will say "You think I'm mean? Listen to the changing room over there"

I can understand why this happens. Those changing cubicles are horrible. Some are very small and it is so incredibly hot in there and then you are faced with a sopping wet child who is pressing all your buttons,it's enough to make a saint swear. And 'four o'clock' compounds this situation. Four o'clock does not give parents much time to pick their children up from school,travel to the swimming baths,get their children into their cozzies and stood at the side of the pool ready to swim. And four o'clock does not give children time to meander up the school drive,get down to the swimming baths,have a drink,snack,a toilet visit,take the school uniform off,put the swim stuff on and be stood at the side of a hot,crowded pool ready to concentrate and swim. No time to unwind. Tempers get frayed. And four o'clock swimming commences,in it's own unique fashion.

So when I picked Chips up that afternoon it was all systems go as we shot up the school drive. There were puddles everywhere and Chips made a good job of balancing on the edges of the puddles,not quite going fully into them but getting as close as close could be without actually stamping right through them and causing his mummy to yelp. I did actually smile at this and wonder about what the fascination with puddles was all about. Halfway up the drive Chips passed a school mate and they began to chatter together. I walked behind them and smiled as they became engrossed in a conversation,I could only catch drifts of what they were talking about but I loved the way they were deep in conversation,one doing more of the chattering and the other doing a lot of listening with the occasional comment thrown in. There heads were almost touching as they walked on putting the world to rights. Big rucksacks on their shoulders,padded winter coats,woolly hats and scarfs wrapped round their necks. They eventually said goodbye and I smiled to myself and thought how lovely it was to see children talking to each other.

Flashes of good.

At the swim baths Chips got it into his head that he would like to have a paddle in the fun pool before his swimming lesson. I said no as we hadn't paid to go into that pool and we obviously did not have the time to mess about but when my back was turned the little monkey dashed off and went into the fun pool and he slipped and fell. And it shocked him and I wasn't there. I was putting our stuff away in the locker. How many times has his mummy said not to run in the swimming baths - tons! By the time I got to the swim lesson pool there was a very bashful little boy waiting for me and it took all my strength not to say 'I told you so' but to be honest I think the lesson had been learnt. It shook me though,I hate falls in the swimming baths,the floors are so hard and unforgiving. Thank goodness there wasn't too much damage done,just a few aches and a shook up little boy who now knows why we don't run on wet floors. Luckily the fall didn't affect the swimming in any way and Chips swam really well,it was breast stroke week,never a easy week,Chips did great circular movements with his arms,the best I have seen him do. He tried really hard this week and I enjoyed half an hour of watching my boy swim.
 Precious time,precious memories made.

Flashes of good.

Tonight as I was mulling things over I came to the conclusion that no matter how much we try to protect our young ones from hard floors or wet soppy puddles,life will always lead them to these situations and there they will learn their own lessons. Luckily today's learning curves were small and there was no lasting harm done. And I do smile and wonder who learnt the most today....the boy or his mummy....