Nojomo 16 in Nojomo 2014

Things that make me happy. A very contemporary prompt. It’s all about the now, not the then or the when. So what makes me happy. Now?

• right now I’m snuggled in bed, I’m comfy and I have my duvet snuggled up to me. I love my pillows which, when I pull them down in the night, snuggle perfectly into my neck.

• I love cycling to school with ma girls. Every morning we get the bikes out. No matter what the weather. We put our helmets on and go. This week has been wet and there is one section of path which always floods in the rain, there is no way to get around it as there are hedges on both sides so the girls speed up and ‘waaaaahooooooooo!’ through it. How can you be unhappy when you see your children having such fun with such beautifully simple things.

• knowing that when Rich is awake in the night, he snuggles up to me and it makes him feel safe.

• having found a babysitter! We’re going out tonight to see Ross Noble at the theatre and have something to eat.

• I’m planning this year’s advent calendar. I’m buying cool stuff for the girls for each pocket as well as thinking of ideas for a piece of paper with a good and fun deed to do during each day at some time. Maybe phoning grandma or baking for a neighbour. Etc… Still working on those.

• my marriage. We like to touch, we always have. If we’re on sofa then our feet may touch, in bed our elbows are currently touching. When we’re out we hold hands (unless the girls get in between us, which they like to do). I still get little heart swoops when I look at him.

• watching Talaia climb, watching Lila swim. Swimming lessons are non negotiable, I want my girls to not down and I want them to enjoy not drowning. Once they reach level 5 they can choose to stop which is what tally did but I may book her in for holiday intensive lessons periodically. She swims like a dart and climbs with intense concentration. Her climbing instructor says that she’s one of the best belayers (person on ground who holds the rope for the climber) of her age that he’s met. Lila is like a little fish, the majority of her swimming lesson is spent under the water and her breaststroke arms and legs are superb, get back crawl is beautiful. Her butterfly is amazing. Now if only she would learn to do the breathing for all the strokes so that she doesn’t have to stop every few strokes to breathe!

I could keep going on about what makes me happy… although I have just thought of another - on Thursday I was talking to a TA who has been there for a few years, I told her that I was surprised at how well my first progress meeting had gone as I never got any feedback She told me that she has been a TA mentor before and if I’m doing it right I won’t have a clue but if I’m doing it wrong I’ll know about it pretty quickly, so as long as no one is telling me that I’m doing it wrong then not to worry. That was such a relief!