Day 10 | January photo a day project

 
January 10th – we went out walking. Ava took her stroller with two dolls, one pony & a teddy for the dolls. I took Anouk in the stroller because she was about to fall asleep. Anouk hopped out of the stroller every time she saw a rock she liked. Eventually she napped. We walked down sunny streets & stopped at every cicada shell, ant & dandelion we walked by. Ava saw an ant carrying a piece of paper five times the size of its body. “I wonder where he’s going with that?” she asked. Then she laughed at all the possibilities, like maybe he would have an awkward moment when he made it all the way home with his special piece of paper & the other ants told him he was supposed to be looking for food not paper!…. or maybe he was delivering a giant letter. The girls caught ‘wishy’s’ as they flew by. Ava wished for a real unicorn to come to her home & live with her. Anouk wished for chocolate smarties. We stopped at the park. They played. We walked some more & stopped for Ava to buy cupcakes with the money the tooth fairy left her. Anouk smiled when she was served a cupcake with smarties on top. Her wish actually came true & now I’m a little worried Ava’s will too. We went back to the park. They played some more. I took pictures of the little things I was savouring about our day. After dinner, Ava asked if we could go for one more walk. We walked to the end of a street with a view of the water & we were rewarded with the most amazing sunset. I didn’t take my camera, so it’s recorded in my mind.  We walked back after watching the sky turn pink & purple & orange.  Ava said, “It’s good we went for one more walk isn’t it mum”.

The next day was different. I couldn’t take my kids out. I couldn’t photograph the things I savoured. I couldn’t walk. Whilst planning our day & pouring milk on their cereal, something happened to my back. Just like that, I couldn’t walk. I had to ask Ava to close the fridge door for me. I crawled to the bed & lay down. I asked Ava if she could bring me the phone & please put the milk back in the fridge for me. She said, “OK mum, I will, but I can’t do house work all day” (at least I know where she stands on the matter. Two year olds want to do everything, five year olds not so much). Pete came straight home from work & I had to spend the entire day lying down. It was another reminder that we never know what each day will bring. How precious the day before had been. How great it is to be their mum & be able to walk with them. I’m walking again today (very veeery slowly)… it will take a little while to recover. When I do though, I will never take for granted each & every chance to walk with them, each & every chance to listen to their wishes along the way, each & every thing they stop to look at,  each & every day like this….