31 July 2010

I had a terrible night. Emily woke around midnight and didn't go back off until 1.30. I think it was another spider nightmare, though the fact that it was her first night in Tom's toddler bed and it was also very warm contributed. She wanted to come into bed with me but it was only a single bed, and very high too, so that was impossible. Consequently, I felt like a zombie all morning and was not very good company; Emily was also grouchy, unsurprisingly.

As Sarah and Tim had a potential buyer coming round for a viewing, she and I took the kids for a short down the road to Littlehaven station for a while. We watched the level crossing gates close and sat on the platform for half an hour waving at the various trains going by and enjoying all things train related.

Afterwards we packed a picnic and drove over to Tilgate Park in Crawley. Emily refused to walk straight away so it was lucky that Sarah had brought a lightweight buggy. Nonetheless, she liked the look of the fabulous playground but got scared at the entrance to the admittedly high curly chute. We cut short exploring the playground in favour of a picnic; Emily barely ate anything then wanted to wander off across the grass. At that point I realised with horror that I had forgotten to log on at 9am to talk to Nick. I was frantic until Tim offered his mobile so I could at least text him. I don't want him to think that it is a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Emily was clearly very tired as we walked over to the walled garden and nature park area. She got into the buggy and fell asleep almost instantly. It was a shame as she missed out on all the animals and birds in the various enclosures: sheep, cows, pigs, various fowl, alpacas and turtles. She woke blearily after half an hour but didn't want to get out, so we pushed her back round to the car park, stopping off to see the cows and sheep. She pointed to a young bull and said 'what's that under that cow'! I said something like 'think about when you have a bath with Daddy' and made a hasty exit.

We went back to Horsham to play for the rest of the day, but Emily was still far from her usual good-natured self and refused her tea. I gave her a hard time at first for being unadventurous, as it was something new to her that Tim had cooked, but eventually I capitulated and cooked her an egg. Still, I was glad to get her off to bed so I could relax and let my blood pressure settle after a trying day. Unfortunately, my trials were not quite over as she woke crying hard around 10pm, and refused to go back into bed on her own. I ended up sleeping with her on the sofa bed downstairs, which was actually quite comfortable. Thankfully we both had a reasonable night after that.