The end of an era: Jackson's last weekly playgroup was on Wednesday and he is officially on the road towards nursery. He's a big boy now and I can tell that he's ready for this next step. I'm not, though. Can he please stay my little baby forever? Please?
This week, Friday, was also our last trip of the Summer to see the ducks and feed them some breadcrumbs. We took the walk back home slower than all of the other times and I savoured the moment, watching Jackson take everything in, observant of all of the people, plants, and animals around him.
The start of the trip home began with a brisk power walk, however, due to an incident at the pond. A few weeks ago, I explained my fear of winged creatures. Now, these are usually the only source of my worry when we go to the pond, but I have learned to suppress my fear as the weeks have gone by. But yesterday, something arrived at the pond that we weren't expecting at all and I had to decide: fight or flight?
Jackson and I had two pieces of bread left to shred and toss into the air like confetti for the ducks to fight over. Up until this point, we had been having the most lovely trip to the pond--the weather was perfect, the temperature was just right, and it was silent and still except for the sound of splashing.
As I tore the first bits of bread off, I heard a distant galloping through the woods. You see, surrounding the wooden walkway around the pond, there is a forest which at this time of year is built up with brush, trees, nettles, and ferns so that looking away from the pond, all we can see is a wall of green. I looked behind us to see if I could catch a glimpse of what was coming, but I couldn't see anything but leaves. I could tell from the pattern of thuds on the ground that it was a four-legged creature with a long stride making its way closer and closer towards the pond. Then I heard really heavy panting and I figured that it was a dog, but this dog was on the hunt--for what, though? And how big was this dog? It could have been a rabid Rottweiler or a kind-hearted Collie. Whatever it was, it was approaching fast and out of all the exits from the woods, it sounded like it was coming right for us! I didn't want to run in case the dog saw it as a game to chase a lady with her helpless babe in his stroller around a pond, so I had to choose "fight"!
I positioned the back of the stroller towards the woods and covered Jackson with my arms and body like an umbrella. Then the dog broke through the shrubbery, I screamed, it pounced on the walkway about an inch to the left of the stroller, and then with its next leap, it dove into the water into the sea of ducks. The dog didn't even notice us. At this point, I was covered in goosebumps and had gone cold as ice, the ducks had quacked their way out of sight, and the dog was half-way across the pond, panting and trying to catch a bite to eat.
As far as we know, all of the ducks escaped. I finished tearing-up the bread and left it on the dry shore so the ducks could come back for it at a later time. As we high-tailed it out of there, I was waiting to give this dog's owner a piece of my mind, but there was no one to be found. Maybe he or she saw me coming and decided 'flight' was the best option.
Shopping for new nursery clothes at Tesco. Jackson is now sitting in the big seat in the grocery cart instead of in the baby seat attachment.
Our last trip of the Summer to feed the ducks
Visiting The Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire
The ice cream themed adventure land
Jackson crawled all around the baby zone on his own and found the pot of gold (the ball pit) at the far end of the play area.
Developmental updates: Jackson is pulling himself up with ease and sitting back down more gracefully than last week. He is fascinated with toddler to preschool-aged children. At the outdoor playgroup on Wednesday, Jackson watched a group of four-year-olds build a 'house' and play 'family' for about ten minutes. Then they tried to include him in their game and he was ecstatic! He crawled behind them, following them to their different dens. After they moved on to another area, Jackson made a new friend named Ziggy who is a few months younger than him. They both tried to steal each other's pacifier out of the other's mouth, but their lips were too strong for their opponents' grasp. On Friday, he sang for the first time along with the Adele song When We Were Young. (Side note: Along with Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On and this song, the first time Jackson heard them, he became very emotional and cried.) Changing Jackson's diaper has become very difficult because he acts like it is the worst thing in the world and screams until he has his new diaper on. Also, in between the old diaper and the new one, he manages to twist into crawling mode and scurries off across the room. This is very risky for us all--and the carpets. So far though, no accidents.
If you see Sammie Miles Davis, Jr. and Bella, give them my love.
