The children had such a fab time at the Public today We met Sal and Evie in West Bromwich, walking past the giant Christmas tree with the animated bears in Queen’s Square which the children loved. I totally failed at photos today due to my pesky eyes which was such a shame. The interactive drawings totally engaged them both for ages. And Alfie is such a wonderful big brother right now (with notable exceptions lol!) He let Holly share his screen when there was none free for her and Evie didn’t want to share and was so kind to her today. The interactive galleries were all good fun – flying avatars around the building, controlling colours and sounds in bubbles and data flows, strange booths where cameras made it look like you were all sitting in the same room when really you were on opposite sides of the gallery.

There was a weird Xmas tree on the wall made out of clothes line where two members of staff were getting the children to decorate it with metal washers, buttons and starnge “stars” made out of cable ties. A recycled grotto theme. This engaged all three children for a good while, and Evie and Alfie for an amazing period. The concentration was wonderful to see. H and A enjoyed seeing Evie, and I really enjoyed catching up with the lovely Sally.

Afterwards we had lunch in the cafe bar then popped to B&M Bargains. The children had a great time doing their new jigsaws we bought from there once we were home. Alfie had a Xmas one and Holly had a 35 piece 3 years plus Peppa Pig one which she completed independently on the kitchen worktop whilst I was on the floor doing Alfie’s with him. She is astoundingly bright. Alfie finds it a bit shocking that she just sits there and counts to ten whilst he still struggles a bit with numbers. He is so so intelligent in other ways though. He works the PC really well now and is constantly wanting to look things up. Most recently have been about the planets in the solar syaten – what each is made of, what can live on there, how big they are.

We also made apple parcels and jam tarts this afternoon, and cleaned off a shelving unit in our bedroom. So a great day with my wonderful children. A much needed antedote to yesterday.

Oh, and H has started weeing on the toilet and potty a fair bit too Her nappy was dry at the Public after several hours when I went to change her so she had a wee on the toilet instead. She seems so tiny!!!!