A day out

Yesterday we visited my darling uncle. He hasn't seen little bear for nearly a year, so it was wonderful to make the trip. A visit to darling uncle involves a trip over the Pennines and in bad weather we usually do not bother.

Another factor limiting our visits is the weather. Darling uncle's house is far too cluttered to risk little bear in there - some of what is seen as clutter is also antique or memorabilia - things that couldn't easily be replaced. So we have a barbecue in the garden, and that demands dry weather.

Well, little bear thought it was wonderful. A lovely large garden to race up and down in, lots of people who were happy to indulge him, great food, sunshine, juice - what more could he want? He had bits of people's barbecue. He had tomatoes, strawberries, physallis, cucumber, satsuma, raw pepper, chocolate cake, breadsticks, crackers... I don't think I caught up on all he had. Most of it was 'good' stuff, you know, veggies and fruit. Actually most of it was sampled and then he moved on to the next new thing. He was like a kitten in a feather factory.

He also got lots of gold stars for his behaviour from other people. I am so proud. On the whole he didn't throw tantrums or demand things, though there were some heated moments when I was not letting go into the playhouse as we were going home. By that time exhaustion was starting to get to him. Darling uncle thought he had done very well.

Of course little bear's spirit of adventure was well to the fore. I don't know how I am going to keep in one piece till adulthood. He headed for the empty bee hives - now filled with wasps. He headed for the river. He headed for the hot barbecue. He climbed and raced and generally headed out into the wild blue yonder.

Darling uncle has bought little bear a summer house. Behind it is a stand of shrubby trees and weeds. I didn't realise, as dear heart and darling brother were the first to see it, but little bear was going round the back of the summer house for adventure, right past a large stand of nettles, much bigger than him. It was later, when we were starting to pack up that we realised he had been nettled. In a few years time I imagine that nettle stings will be almost de rigeur but little bear is only two and a half and the stings covered at least a third of his under arm and it was the first time he had been nettled. He hadn't told us, he hadn't cried or fussed. Dear heart only twigged when he saw him rubbing his arm. Of course there wasn't a dock leaf to be had! I wiped over with a Wet Wipe and let him get on with it - if he wasn't making a fuss I didn't want to.

I think with little bear, the world was just too full of interesting things to explore, and fussing about a sting would be wasting time. I admire his attitude. I just hope I can survive it.