Action kids?

Alice and I had a lovely day yesterday - the kind of golden day that you dream you might have while spending quality time with your firstborn before the second child comes crashing into your world.  There were no tantrums, no last minute bids for freedom from lifts at the shops and hardly any shouting. 

We spent the morning with Little Friend Cora and "Cora Mummy who is called Orlaith, my Mummy's called Helen" (as Cora's Mummy is now called) and had a not-at-all civilised coffee and cake at Pain Quotidien while Alice and Cora ran up and down the thankfully empty walkway, yelling as loudly as possible.

After persuading Alice that slithering like a snake would get her pretty dress dirty, I managed to get her into an upright position and we set off for "Adele's Action Kids".  We haven't been to this music and movement class before, but it was brilliant - like an unstructured gymbaroo - you just joined in if you wanted to do and had a little rest if you didn't.  Alice was reluctant to go in at first, as there were tonnes of children and parents milling around due to a class changeover, but once they'd all cleared out and "Thank you for the Music" came on, she began swaying, singing and twirling in a trancelike state, with her arms outstretched.  The free format meant that I could sit down from time to time, while Adele produced all kinds of props - mini toy monkeys for "5 Monkeys sitting on the bed"; spiders made out of bouncey balls for "Incey Wincey Spider"; balls, hoops and bubbles whenever possible.  Alice was in her element with lots of songs to sing to (she is utterly tuneless, so it's largely irrelevant whether she knows the song or not) and almost fell asleep at the end of the class, so active was her participation.  All the other pregnant Mummies had a lovely sit and chat around the sides of the room, but Alice was so enthusiastic, she wanted me to share her fun.

We returned home for a well deserved nap and then made cookies in the afternoon.  Alice then decided she would read me a story because "Mummy's tired with the baby in her tummy". 

A quick aside to note that Alice and now most of her little friends also have babies in their tummies at the moment.  It's not quite clear when they are all due to be born, although both her baby and my baby get a separate mention in the roll call of birthdays that will occur before Alice "can have a Dora birthday cake". 

So here's an excerpt of Alice reading me a story - an Aussie favourite, which was actually a present for the new baby from lovely former work colleagues, but which Alice has slightly stolen.  She'll be able to read it to the littlest Yardley after a bit more practice. 

Please ignore the slightly scary dolly on the floor in the second video and her even scarier positioning.