Unsupervised Play

My university (including Ella's childcare) has a habit of closing over the xmas break, while Nat's company are always desparate for people to work at this time. So, for the last week I've been playing the house-husband while Nat is off earning our crust. Needless to say, this is an opportunity not to be missed.

An opportunity, that is, to reshape Ella's personality somewhat. So, here's a few highlights of our week:

1. We missed the first half of the boxing day test, so had some making up to do. Needless to say, we spent a good two days watching the end of the test, although Ella needed a few sleep/play breaks. Still not a bad performance and I anticipate that by next year she'll be able to cope with a full uninterrupted day's play.

2. The sandpit played a very important part in our week. Particularly, when Ella is placed in the sandpit (see photo and note new deck which is finally completely complete) she can stay there for a significant amount of time, allowing me to get on and do something useful in the garden. We've worked on extending this time as the week has progressed.

3. Ella is also quite into having a "play" these days -- which means that I take her to the park so she can go on the slide and climb ladders. She's been gradually improving at this activity, and today we reached an important milestone -- I had a coffee at Riccardo's while Ella stormed off and played alone for a good 15 minutes while I had my coffee in peace. Of course, the playground is within view (I'm not that bad as a parent), but there was little chance I could reach the playground in time to perform a rescue mission if Ella decided to fall off a ladder. The main point about this is that I've always been scornful about the quality of Riccardo's coffee (even compared to their direct competitor, the franchise-laden Coffee Guru) but for some reason this particular coffee really hit the spot...