Choice

I got some fab "proper" camera photos of Katie this morning, promo shots for the sock company she represents of katie having a total blast on her scooter, playing bubbles and such. But I'm blipping the quick phone shot of her lying on her tummy in the patch of warm afternoon sun because it represents her day so well.

When she woke at 530, I had only been asleep about 15 minutes. I had been awake all night following the news of the London attacks. We'd tickets to be there this weekend, and planned to be in the Borough Market area for significant chunks of the weekend but our plans had changed. Thankfully, the plan changes also involved my brother (who lives and hangs out near there) being out of town. But photos of places we frequently visit left me unable to settle.

Anyway, at 5am my brother text me to tell me he and his wife had indeed stayed the night out of town and I managed to nod off. I didn't tell katie why I hadn't slept much at that point but she let me doze til 7 ish. I did have a chat with her about what happened - I've taken the decision to talk to her about these things because I would rather be able to explain and answer her questions, just her and I, than her hear at school and church and be unable to ask the questions her little brain creates. She always has a long stream of questions.

We had fun with her scooting round the empty car park for half an hour. When we came back inside she started work on the composition she had decided to do in response to the exhibition we visited yesterday. She spent a huge amount of her day on it- lots of time on the composing, time on the draft notation, ages on the beautiful background and illustrations for it and then such a very long time painstakingly writing out the score. She was so proud of her creation, she said several times how excited she is to take it to tomorrow's music lesson.

In the midst of the mammoth creation project, we went to church. As we walked, some friends offered a lift to us but katie turned it down as she really does enjoy our walks together. After the service, she ran up to me squealing in delight. There's a field and small play area outside church but I don't allow her out without an adult and it creates clashes sometimes when her friends are allowed. But today one of the parents said he was going out with the children and she ran to tell me so delighted!

Other than church and the illustrated composition, we've been tending the garden (she was quite disturbed to discover how effective the slug pellets had been overnight) and snuggled together for Trolls & enjoyed the next instalment of The Faraway Tree. It's been a very gently lovely day.