Where's Dexter?

A morning family walk in the forest which included:
* making arrows out of sticks so we could find our way back
* singing 'We're going on a bear hunt' song and finding ways to cross the big muddy puddles
* looking for treasure and just so happening to find chocolate coins thanks to Daddy and his treasure map drawing skills
* catching falling leaves (a lot trickier than it sounds but so much fun)
* hide and seek (Dex blends in very well with the autumn colours at the moment!)
* playing follow the leader.

At the end of our walk Dexter exclaimed that he loved his walk in the forest and asked if we can do it again next week. I'd better stock up on chocolate coins as I suspect that's the bit he really loved!

This afternoon I took Olivia to Sport City for a party which involved an hour of team sports, and then an hour of swimming followed by birthday cake. She was quite nervous as she didn't know anyone, apart from the birthday twins and it was entirely in French, but she really wanted to go. In the evening I received the following text from the birthday girls' Mum:

"...Olivia is an amazing girl and I saw a whole new aspect of her today where she just adapted so well, really integrated in a group of children unknown to her and not phased by the French. I saw such a confident and non-needy Olivia who did not seek the limelight but just patiently waited for everything to happen and so independent! You can be proud parents!'

It's not very often someone outside of the family gives such generous praise to your child as most people just get snapshots and unfortunately make a judgement without spending any real quality time with them. I will treasure this text.