sea, sun and a bit more settled

after sending a blog shout out to the world on Monday, after a particularly tough patch with little un,  things have picked up a great deal... 

We have still been dealing with the mother of all meltdowns... as I have had several public and private battles with a screaming, slapping, scratching toddler who shouts go away mummy at the top of her voice.. however, my attitude has changed, and I'm not feeling quite as fraught...  I got lots of support from friends, as  messages of empathy and understanding came flooding into me along with comedy anecdotes from other mums... 

Hilary who is one of my new friends in the village provided the much needed cake and comfort on Tuesday and also a great psychology based parenting book, with some really good advice about communicating with children to help them be their best selves... We then met up with Rory and Jo for a look around the museum and  a scone on Wednesday, and little un was fantastic so we had a lovely outing...   Thursday not quite so great, but  a very nice lady helped me pack my shopping when everything got a bit out of hand in the supermarket... Then today  Dave is off for the Easter weekend,  so  we've had a much more settled day as Little un has had two people to provide attention and entertainment and I've felt like I've got back up... 

We went to the beach today,  Little un was  more brave than she's ever been before darting back and forth to the sea  and we've been playing with bubbles and had a snack in the seabird centre cafe and some proper laughs... 

We're putting in place some of the ideas that I've been reading and re-reading,  so hopefully a lovely weekend awaits us?