Day 173: The Lagoon and farm

14/01/2022

Last Sunday morning was spent running about after the kids. Lachlan is picking up some serious crawling speed. Although, he was more than comfortable this morning, tuning into Eloise’s shows. We could not believe Lachnado was staying still for more than two seconds.

In the afternoon, Eloise found her swimming goggles and enjoyed running around the house with them. We figured we better take them to the pool. After a number of phone calls, we eventually found one that had a spare booking slot for the afternoon, Lagoon Leisure Centre.

It turned out to be a great choice as it had the perfect beach entry pool for Lachlan and a waterslide (or flume as they call it here) for Eloise. Funnily enough, Eloise did not like wearing her goggles in the water but made sure she had them on the drive home.

At the start of this week, Eloise was working on her arts and crafts. Dad was peacefully working from home when he was viciously attacked by Eloise and Olaf. In the evening we wandered into the town centre and found the largest real Christmas tree we have seen.

Tuesday, the children started bouncing off the walls in the morning so Super Mum took them to the sandpit to blow off some steam. Eloise made sure to serve ice cream from her ice cream store and Lachlan had his first play in a sandpit

Jennine came over to play with the kids Wednesday morning. They had to all go back to the playground and sandpit after Lachlan had so much fun digging on Tuesday. Liam was in training this week and worked almost normal UK hours, so barely saw the sun. In the afternoon Eloise found a torch and was nagging Dad to take her on a night walk, “come one Dad! Why you no come? Night walk now please”. As soon as he clocked off for the day, they were off to explore Glasgow at night. There were plenty of “Dad, what’s that sound?” and checking under every hedge.

This week, the Mum’s were more organised and post Gymboree coffees were back, one of the highlights of Eloise’s week, extended playtime with her friends. After Eloise pushed Lachlan around ASDA we installed a second stair gate, at the bottom this time. Eloise has been flirting with danger, flying up and down while holding 17 stuffed toys. Lachnado has been watching her carefully and has started to get ideas, “no, stairs closed Lach, no up Lach, Lach stay”.

Thursday was also the first day that Lachlan started to say “Dad”. Well at the very least it is pretty close. Liam is claiming it.

This morning, Eloise had a playdate with Emma and Joanna. They met up at Edenmill Farm Shop, Cafe and Soft Play, the same place we cut down our own Christmas tree. Lachnado was having a blast in the ‘COVID-19 coloured’ ball pit. Eloise ran about with Emma, before dragging Joanne through all the obstacles with her.

In the afternoon, we headed back to the Lagoon Leisure Centre, while Lachlan worked on his baby guns at the gym. Eloise and Dad rushed in for the flume but sadly we booked an hour early and it was not operating. It was much quieter than last Sunday. Plenty of room for Eloise and Lachlan to work on their butterfly technique. We have been looking to sign them up for swimming lessons, but it was a wee risky long term commitment during COVID-19 times, as half of the lessons would probably be cancelled. For now, the splashing about will do the trick. Eloise is getting stronger with her kicking but does not like her ears getting wet. She is a bit weird like aunty Amy. Lachlan, cannot stop giggling and cackling. This is actually a bit of an issue as he takes the odd accidental sip of water, he is always laughing his head off again shortly after.

Anyone in need of a holiday, this week was also the first time that COVID-19 cases in Australia have topped cases in the United Kingdom or Scotland per 100k population. That is if you can trust testing numbers anywhere at the moment. Touch wood, it looks like Scotland’s COVID-19 Omicron wave is finishing almost as quickly as it started, with Scotland lifting “restrictions” on Monday. It feels strange to think we almost did not come to the UK because of COVID-19.