Terrific Two!

Lutaaya LOVES her little cousin and I think the feeling is very much mutual – wouldn’t you say???

I mean how much fun can two girlies have walking through town on a Sunday afternoon?  

It’s obviously hilarious to be two and have a piggy back off your big cousin!!!!

Distance makes the heart grow fonder

Lutaaya has just been on her year 6 adventure weekend away with school.  Her and her classmates headed to an outdoor activities centre in west Wales.  We’ve known about it for several months and she’s been so excited to go away for a long weekend with her friends.  

This would be the longest time, since her becoming my daughter, for us to spend apart.   She’s already done overnight stays at her friend’s houses or my parents, and we’ve coped with that fine.  This on the other hand, was a whole new experience.  She was going on a journey, for two nights away, and not with family, but with school. 

I must admit I didn’t quite know what effect this would have on us, after all we’re still in the early days of attachment building. So we made the planning as fun as possible in the run up to the day.  She was fully involved in choosing what was going to go in her suitcase and what would be left behind.  She knew exactly what she wanted to take.  She chose some sweet treats to pack in her backpack, just in case she struggled with the food and the excitement was brewing.  

During the week before the trip, I received a lot of cuddles.  Unexpected cuddles, that normally don’t come my way, but were freely given.   Last minute packing on the night before her trip, she looked at her very full case and said, ‘It looks like I’m not coming back!’  

Now she may have said this in a very matter of fact way, but I worried about the thoughts she may have been having.  Did she think I wouldn’t be there when she returned home from the trip?  Did she think she may end up living with new people in a new place?  

Whether or not these thoughts were in her mind, or simply in mine, we sat for a while and talked.  I explained how I’d miss her while she was away but how I’d be there waiting for her by the school when she got off that bus on Sunday afternoon.  I told her how it would be strange being in the house all weekend on my own.  I told her what plans I had for the weekend and we talked about what fun activities she could get to try for the first time.  

You see most children take this as granted.  They know that their parents will ALWAYS be there and will NEVER let them down.  For children who the notion of family is new or different, we have to vocalise these things to put our children’s minds at rest and know we’ve done the best we can for them in instilling that we will be FOREVER a family, no matter what comes our way.

I must admit mornings were the strangest thing for me.  Waking up two morning’s running to a silent house, with just the cats for company.  For the rest of the time it felt ‘normal’.  Kind of like when she’s at school or out with her friends, and then bedtime came, and again it was unusually quiet.  

After waiting 3 years to bring my little girl home, you want to treasure every single moment together, but also want her to experience the same as her peers.  This trip gave her the opportunity to explore new things and feel independence, but also showed her that I will be there for her whenever she returns home from whatever adventure she has been on.

A very tired grumpy little girl arrived back two days later, wet clothes packed away and sweet treats eaten.  Plenty of tales to tell of her weekend away with her friends.  Lots of fun had by all and more energy than she thought she had, all used up.