Backyard fun

Fourth birthday fun continued this week. We were lucky enough to be looking after Ella on Thursday morning when an interesting parcel arrived at the front door - from Sydney Clare and family. There was no time to be wasted to see what was inside.

A dress..with splashes of red (tick) with a long skirt (tick) with swirling potential (tick)...big smiles....and lots of emphatic I LOVE THIS DRESS!

Then straight to the mirror to check out its swirlability....Verdict...very swirl able...but now need urgently a pair of pretty shoes to wear with swirly skirted dress with lots of RED on it!!! "Banny (that's me) did you hear that I need a pair of pretty shoes now?"

We still had a morning's work to do: painting, water play, lots of activity on the new swing set, scootering to the park...the pretty birthday dress just had to be gently put to one side for later.

It was a beautiful clear Canberra late Autumn morning..brilliantly sunny, perfect for some backyard play on the new swing set.

Interspersed with discussions about the meaning of life (and the Rapunzel and Cinderella story), and snacks eaten picnic style on the ramp to the slippery slide.

Ella has developed quite a few strategies and theories about managing naughty Nellie the Beagle when she's playing in the back garden. Naughty Nellie is the biggest tease and likes to steal toys and jump up over people when she's excited. Ella demonstrated for me her Nellie whispering techniques and I was amazed at how effective they were. This is Ella and Nellie behaving like her submissive, sookie puppy!