Tag Archives: gardening

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Outdoor playtime

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Sunday, 23 February 2014: Two Hundred and Thirty Days Old.

Ayla had her first proper outdoor playtime today and she spent it cruising around eating sticks and leaves, chasing the cat and playing in puddles.

Ayla has of course been outside countless times but this afternoon was the first opportunity she’s had to crawl about where ever she wanted doing what ever took her fancy.

Usually when I’ve taken Ayla outside I’ve sat her on a particular patch of grass and kept a close vigil on her whereabouts or I’ve relegated Ayla to her walker knowing she’d could go past the driveway edges.

Needless to say Ayla loved her newfound freedom and was covered head to toe in dirt, cobwebs, dogs hairs and goodness knows what else in no time.

There’s not doubt I’m coming to terms with the fact that it’s near impossible to keep an immaculately clean and well presented baby all of the time, and to tell you the truth I actually enjoyed seeing Baby Ayla have so much fun getting dirty.

Letting Ayla explore the outdoors also meant that I was free to get stuck into the gardening, so long as I kept one watchful eye on Ayla of course!

And, because I we’re to lucky enough to live in the tropics, I knew that no matter how sweaty and dirty we got a quick wash down with was waiting for us at the end!

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Freedom

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Tuesday, 21 January 2014: Two Hundred and Ninety Five Days Old.

Baby Ayla discovered a newfound sense of freedom this afternoon, and she wasted no time in making the most of it.

Until today I’ve been relying on Ayla’s naps for the time I need to get stuck into renovation work around home, but this afternoon Ayla was far from interested in napping.

Plus, the cool overcast weather left behind by the recent monsoon had created the perfect opportunity for some overdue gardening and presented me an opportunity I didn’t want to give up.

So for the first time I took Ayla and her walker outside, shut the front gate and let my baby girl go nuts in the driveway.

Not surprisingly, Ayla headed straight for the road (hence why I shut the gate) and although it appeared like she was on a mission to escape it could simply have been the downward slope of the driveway proved a slightly easier angle for her little legs to practice on.

But before long Ayla fine tuned the muscles she needed for going uphill and she was off… away and running. In every direction.

Ayla ran over to The Dog. She came flying past me digging up weeds in the garden. She shot back down to the gate when a neighbour walked past, and she tried making friends with next door’s dog through the fence.

The whole time she was running about Ayla had a big joyous grin in her face, her mouth and eyes were open wide and her head seemed like it was on a swivel as it turned around every which way to look for the source of each noise and every breath of wind.

I loved it. Not only because I could see Ayla absorbing so much about the world, and not just because seeing her so happy and excited makes my heart feel like bursting, but because it meant she and I now have a whole new spectrum of things to do together – outdoors.

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Best friends

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Sunday, 12 January 2013: Two Hundred and Eighty Six Days Old.

Ayla and I had a lovely morning today, hanging out like a couple of best friends with not a care in the world.

Hubby had left early to go fishing, so when Ayla and I woke up we had the house to ourselves and a good few hours to fill in.

I had a craving for crepes and before I could think twice and talk myself out of it I dressed Ayla in one of her Christmas dresses from Grandad and we set off for the markets.

The markets were no where near as busy as usual so Ayla and I were able to kick back untroubled in the shade with a coffee and our breakfasts and watch the world go by.

When we got home I was keen to pot a new plant I’d bought (my first ever self-purchased market plant!) and Ayla was keen to finish off her prawn toast!

While I pottered around in the garden Ayla played happily by my side, sharing her toast with The Dog, inspecting fallen sticks, and munching on dead leaves until she was covered from head to toe in dirt, dust and sesame seeds.

The day was starting to heat up so to cool Ayla off and clean her up I set up her baby bath under the patio and let her splash and play for nearly an hour while I relaxed beside her and read the paper; it was relaxing, wholesome and fulfilling, and something I haven’t done in a very long time.