Monday 10 March 2014

A Little Date with my Big Boy

It has been a year since Archie entered the world and turned our little family of three into a busy four.  For a whole year I have been a mother to two, splitting my time between the boys, finding activities that appeal to both a baby and a toddler, and enjoying the new family dynamic.

It has become clear though recently that Dylan needs some one on one time. He has entered a cuddly phase (which I am certainly not complaining about, but he needs to be involved in everything.  He is proving his independence in so many little ways, insisting that he can put on his pants and trousers every morning, needing to put his cup and bowl in the sink after breakfast.


At the same time as showing this new independence, he has become a mummy's boy, and I realised that in the year since Archie's arrival, I haven't spent time with Dylan on his own.  After 18 months of my undivided attention, he was suddenly given a baby brother and everything changed.  He has coped so well with this, but at two and a half he is such an amazing little boy, and last weekend I got to spend a few hours alone with him.  



Last Sunday, I went on a little date with my big boy.  We got the bus to the nearest shopping centre, sitting at the back (which is a luxury in itself when you usually have a buggy) and watching life pass out the window.  We talked about the cars, houses, lorries and zebra crossings, chatted about what we were going to do and had a cuddle.  

We walked to the bookshop, and chose a sticker book together, opting for rockets of course and we even picked up a little gift for Archie.  We walked hand in hand to the restaurant, and stuck aliens and shooting stars on every page as we waited for pizza.  We finished up with ice cream sundaes, complete with chocolate sauce and the obligatory wafer. 


We wandered the shops - Dylan was in charge, and we often went in just to ride the escalator up and down.  He picked a new pair of pants with his favourite characters on as a gift for doing so well at potty training and he loved handing over his pennies to the shop assistant.  We danced to a Michael Jackson impersonator advertising a new show and jumped all the way down the centre of the walkway, giggling the whole time.  We threw coins in the fountain, making wishes and made our way home on the bus, so exhausted that Dylan couldn't manage to stay awake the whole way home and fell asleep in my arms.


Other than taking these three terribly grainy photos, my phone remained in my bag, and my attention was all his.  I enjoyed having just a toddler, an intelligent and interesting little boy who was delighted to have me all to himself.  We smiled and giggled, we were silly, we had fun.  My beautiful big boy needs me, sometimes just me, and sometimes I need him, just him.

2 comments:

  1. It sounds like such a perfect date :) I try and do this with F when i can too as i think it's so important.
    It's often really hard to properly listen or talk when you have a baby taking up most of the attention! x

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  2. Sounds like an amazing date!!! So cute. Love the pictures. I think it's so important to give each child time alone with each parent for bonding and sole attention and love on them. What a sweet post.

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