Happy Valentines Day!
So today is the day of Saint Valentine.
A time to love and spend time with those you hold dearest.
Esther and William were at school this morning so as I pottered round the house I thought and talked about Tilda Mae. I had a cry with David’s mum about my beautiful daughter that I miss with every possible part of my being.
Once Esther and William were home though my time became theirs and we had some Valentines fun with water and with ice.
Heart Shaped Ice
I made a range of frozen red hearts using chocolate moulds. There were some small ones made with water, red food colouring and vanilla essence, then two large hearts with glitter and sparkly sprinkles added. The hope was that these would melt in the water and make it all sparkly and with a collection of hearts and stars and sequins that Esther and William could fish for.
Our afternoon did not quite go to plan.
It ended up better than I ever could have hoped for.
I am glad that Nana and Grandpa were with us to witness our smiles and giggles as we played.
We started out with two bowls of cold plain water and two bowls of warm soapy water.
Esther and William enjoyed moving their hands from the hot to the cold and back again.
We put the soap suds onto a plastic serving spoon and blew them. This was great fun.
I added the little heart ice cubes to the cold water first and they scooped and fished for them.
They watched them melt and slowly the water began to turn pink then red.
We then added the larger sparkly hearts which Esther and William thought were great!
Hearts of Ice
We had lots of different sized containers so that Esther and William could pour the water and move it around. They loved stirring the bubbly water and watching the bubbles move. As the large stars started to melt they really enjoyed searching the sparkly stars and hearts in the water. They really did seem to have a lot of fun.
The language that they used in describing to us and to each other what they were doing was wonderful. They were emptying pots, stirring soup, making drinks, splashing and sploshing and blowing bubbles. We all had a wonderful, truly happy time though I was always aware that Tilda should be there and how she would have loved sitting in a bowl of glittering red water and making a splash. We miss you Baby Tilda Mae x
After quite a while of pots and pouring play came the inevitable emptying all the bowls of water into the tuff spot and then this happened!!
From This To This To This – Truly Child Led Play!
Having created a truly magical red puddle littered with sparkly valentine treasures it would have been rude not to get in and splash about. They jumped, they slid, they sploshed and splashed. We even did the Hokey Cokey putting our right foot, left foot … whole selves (!!) in!
It was a wonderful game.
You Make My Heart Go Splish Splash Splosh
And the love and laughter and soaking wet carpets made this a truly magical valentines afternoon.
And this boy in particular thought it was the best way to play ever!
He had hearts and stars stuck to his body and hair, his clothes were soaked. He just loved the water and had a wonderful time.
Earlier in the day, the sun was shining so much that Granny opened the door to let some air into the playroom. I am certain she let Matilda Mae into the room too. I know she would be smiling.
Our beautiful Tilda Mae x
Our Water Baby
Jennie, this sounds like it was a wonderful time, Matilda wold have been watching although still difficult for you… So good for esther and William x x
That looks like so much fun: good to see the twins enjoying themselves. I’m sure Matilda Mae was there in spirit x
I love that you scented it with vanilla, I bet it smelt gorgeous x
wow you are a braver mum that I ever was, mine only got water play either in the bath, the sink, the garden or the balcony, never in the playroom. What a brilliant afternoon they seem to have had, thanks for sharing all those wonderful pictures.
That looks like a magical afternoon and glad you are finding ways to smile and laugh again x x
So glad you were all so happy. I enjoyed reading this!
magical times! x
so much fun for your twins it sure does look like a great way to play, those heart ice cubes are an amazing idea, I am certain Matilda Mae was smiling down making that bit of sun for you all 🙂
Wow oh wow. Esther and William look like they had a wonderful time-the best memories always come with a lot of mess-but what an amazing happy memory this will be for all of you. I’m sure Matilda Mae was smiling down at you all and enjoying the moment of fun too. My heart breaks for you all that she’s not there with you in person but you have her happy smiles to remember her by and Esther and Williams smiles will be what will hopefully pull you through this tragic time. You are in my thoughts everyday. Xx
I am so going to do this! L would love that kind of play too x
Wow I never would have guessed at all that fun when I saw the preparations yesterday, and you managed to capture it all so well too. I bet it was a huge help having the Grandparents too. So pleased it was a good day for you all x
Wonderful! I am crying big rolling bittersweet tears for you all here. I know just how hard it is to balance living children’s needs with the ache and terrible grief of the missing child. I know how our hearts can hold both devastation, and joy simultaneously and you have captured that here in this post, with these beautiful photos of your children.
x
so good to see you had fun with the twins, they seem really happy which is a step forward on living a live filled with good memories and love.
What a fab game for William and Esther!I can almost hear their giggles from here! You are such a good mummy Jennie,you truly are xxxxxx
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Wow what fun. Love how you had all that water indoors. I think Matilda Mae was definitely smiling down. x
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Such a beautiful post! Matilda Mae was sure to be with you in spirit! xx
so glad that Esther and William had fun and i am certain that Matilda Mae was there with you in spirit x
I was so happy to read your tweet about this day. Sounds like lots of fun.
xxxx
These are such lovely ideas, Fiona at CoombeMill is hosting a blog hop for Valentines ideas – sure everyone would love these xx
I love the way you end every post with how Matilda was there too and show a picture of her, thank you for sharing them!
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I have just come across yr blog thru twitter. So so sad for your loss and my heart aches for you. I feel this may be insignificant but also maybe that it may somehow be nice for you to read at some point? Seeing your posts about sensory play have really inspired me, I am going to do more of this kind of thing with my little ones, instead of getting distracted and leaving them to it I want to be able to say I’ve help,ed them have some magical experiences! You are so inspiring to have done this for your twins when you were grieving so hard. I also did not know about SIDS risk for mobile babies. Just assumed they could move themselves out of any danger. Will educate myself about this. Lots of love to you and your family and I hope to light up twitter tomorrow as well as doing some really fun and messy stuff with my two little ones, as my way of saying “life is precious, play more, love more, remembering gorgeous baby Tilda on your sad sad day. Xxx
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