Beach day (shhhh!)

So, when left to our own devices, and the weather heats up to a balmy 75 degrees, what do two boys and a mum do? They go to the beach!

We were actually all dressed for church, but that last minute indecision hit and I'm a little ashamed to say I don't regret changing course! The boys and I haven't had too many unrestricted spaces to relax and enjoy each other in, without having something else to do or somewhere else to go. In fact, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we also missed our afternoon engagement at the swimming club, sad only because it was the last one before the summer holidays. But again, who wants to be swimming inside on the "hottest day of the year"? (not really, but the media like to claim it)

The beach was packed but we found a nice spot and settled down, near the river sheltered from the wind by dunes. This spot is our fave because the water is slightly warmer and there is no danger of getting doused by a wave. The boys played in the water for a while and then Adam started to play a new game. I don't know who started it, but he had this little rhythm of taking off his clothes (yes, all of them!), walking through the river a bit, then coming back to me and putting them back on. Then he would do the whole thing again. After a while we dropped the nappy and just had the shorts and shirt. Then after another while we spiced things up with a zip-up jacket over the shirt! Adam loved it, so much that he did it for an hour. Each round took about 90 seconds, so if you are the calculating kind of person you'll see that's about 40 times of clothes on/clothes off. But hey, he was happy, we were interacting, and the sun was shining, so it was very good.

I know I said I would post an update about the gluten free diet, and I haven't only because I don't trust myself to be reading in to things too much. I'm the first to admit I'm not exactly unbiased. But I really, honestly feel that Adam is more "there" now than he was 6 days ago. He has been much more verbal this week, much more switched on and cooperative (most of the time!), and much more settled, again not 100% of the time, but more than usual. Today's game was a new thing we had never done, and after he was (finally!) tired we laid down on the towel just looking in each other's eyes and pretending to sleep. "Eeep", Adam said, and pushed my head gently down onto the towel when I had looked up. Has he ever done that before? Heck, no!! That requires imagination and the ability to pretend, which Adam has never demonstrated having before now. Do I think not eating wheat for a week has made this happen? Can't say. But again, it's the subtle change in his whole demeanour that I can't put my finger exactly on but I can claim is there. It makes me excited--I will eat gluten free, dairy free muffins for the rest of my life if need be! (they are not good, at least not the ones I made. But Adam likes them, sweet boy!)

Anyway, two tired boys went to bed and now for the tired momma. So much for the filing!