William is utterly convinced that we are currently living in The Night Garden. He keeps looking out of the window of our lodge saying, ‘Daisy!’, as if he truly believes she may appear.
Somewhere Out There ...
In reality we are in the middle of Elveden Forest and coming through the trees to our lodge is not Upsy Daisy but pheasants, ducks, moor hens and baby deer. It is quite magical especially for our little ones.
We had a 6.30am start (time to buy some Gro Anywhere Blinds or Snoozeshade for Cots!) and were greeted at the window with a little deer. Esther, without any prompting, said and signed ‘deer’ beautifully. Daddy and I were very proud!
Oh deer!
Esther and William were quite restless in the lodge after breakfast and so we decided to take them out to find a soft play area. We found a terrible one first of all in Cafe Rouge and then found a better one in The Sports Cafe. By the time David and I had ordered and received a cup of tea it was time to start our day proper with a Musical Melodies organised session.
The session was quite good. It started with our favourite Wind the Bobbin’ Up and progressed through a repertoire of well known songs with some use of puppets, props and instruments. We met another set of twins at the class who were just a few months older than Esther and William.
Esther and William being regulars at music classes at home were not shy in coming forward to get instruments, try out other babies props or to get up close to the session leader. I am not sure this was the correct behaviour for this particular session though. But it was funny. Esther and William are real characters. They love singing and knew all the songs. Esther enjoyed performing in the centre of the circle on a couple of occasions including signing her way through Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
After the class we came home for Esther and William’s nap before a fun family lunch and then heading out to the pool.
Family Fun Lunch!
The swimming complex is great. It was the first time Esther and William had been swimming in over a year and at first they were a bit frightened, in fact Esther was terrified. She clung to Daddy or me for over an hour before regaining composure and confidence and realising that the pool is just like a giant, incredibly noisy bath. By the end of the session she was asking to go round and round the lazy river again and again and tackling waves in the main pool head on. We will definitely be swimming again tomorrow and Thursday and making the most of this opportunity and time.
Organising to go swimming regularly with premature twins has been so hard, for health reasons and logistics, taking three children under two is actually impossible without another pair of hands. I think we might have to book Granny Henley for a monthly family swim?!?
Esther and William loved splashing around the toddler pool. Esther fell in love with the dolphins in the children’s pool and William even braved the slide. Most of all they loved whoosing round the lazy river in the arms of Mum or Dad. We did not really use their swim floats. They were confident to just be in the water with us and were happy lying back, kicking their legs and really trying to swim. It was wonderful and the time passed so quickly. We had a lovely afternoon.
Tomorrow we have a busy day. We are going out for breakfast to a cafe with soft play before heading to a Fun with Play Dough session and then after lunch we have Messy Play before our family swim. I can’t wait.
Center Parcs may not be perfect for David and I but I think Esther and William are having a wonderful time.
They have done lots of walking and talking and learning and it is great to be having some lovely time together as a family.
Today was a good day.