A happy Monkey

Today was a happy Sunday, with Monkey in a good mood.  

We took him up to the stable in the morning, stuffing myself, hubby, Monkey, helper, 3 dogs, stroller and 1 toddler bike into the car (it took a bit of shoving, but we managed!).  The bike was an inspired last minute decision by DH because it made Monkey's day to be going around the stable On His Bike.  Actually, he got pushed around on something even better- DH found an old trolley (normally used for feed trays- the type you see people pushing down Hong Kong streets laden with cardboard boxes), stuck a lid on it as a seat for Monkey and off they went.  Monkey was thrilled that the vehicle was amphibious, and could even splash through big puddles :-p

We had brunch and Monkey had big helpings of toast, hash brown and eggs benedict and then off he went to see the Massey Ferguson tractors, which he adores.  It's his scale model come to life!  Followed by a ride in the hay wheelbarrow.  All this while,  the 3 dogs had been waiting patiently in the boot of the car, and to reward them, we took them to the Club's park for a walk, with Monkey being pushed along on his bike.  

In the afternoon, we took our usual walk up the hill to the grassy patch on top of the reservoir.  We had planned to go and see the caves, but didn't get that far.  Monkey came out of the backpack and spent ages walking around on the grass, picking up little stones and stems of dried  grass, hunting down the funny white lizards eggs that lie perfectly spherical amongst the blades of grass, while all the while, the three dogs chased and tumbled.  They'd get tired and flop down, and then one of them would recover, and they'd be off again.  We spent so long up there, and Monkey could have been there till it got dark!

I feel particularly relieved about this weekend, because for the past couple of weeks, we've been battling first a cold, and then an ear infection, which didn't make for a very happy little man.  He hated being dosed up with antibiotics, and was just fussy and grumpy in general.  This weekend, it's like the sun has come out, and the real Monkey is back again.  He's cheeky, chirpy and ever so eager to play.  He knows when he's being naughty, and gets this really mischievous look on his face, with that quirky dimpled grin of his.  He'd been so difficult to feed, and I was so happy to see him eating so well today.  

I took the plate off his dinner bowl and his face lit up to see pasta and potatoes.  He had our smoked salmon and caper pasta from last night, along with some gratinated fennel and potatos.  What he really liked was our leek and potato soup and kept trying to say "soup". Came out "sssss-up".  V. cute.