Saturdays are generally a laidback affair with us here in the Daft Family Household. And after all this walking we’ve been doing, that was the plan for today. Nice, lazy morning and then a walk after lunch.

That is kind of what happened but then Daddy Daftie made a surprise return home (I genuinely had no idea he was on his way home til he knocked on the front door just before lunch) so our plans remained in tact, just a lot more fun to share them with the whole fam.

Besties reunited.

After a lengthy month away, bookended by several long flights, we decided that some sea air and sunshine was called for so off we set for South Queensferry.

It’s a lovely little place and Daddy Daftie treated us to a fish and chips lunch with a fantastic view of the Forth Rail Bridge. Which was excellent for a few reasons. I mean, who doesn’t love fish and chips while an over enthusiastic toddler shouts, “Look! A train! Choo-choo!”

“Look! A train! Choo-choo!”

After lunch, which took a bit longer to get to us than anticipated, we took a stroll down High Street in the sun where two things happened. One, Wee Daftie hugged pretty much every bollard down the street and two, she managed to convince Daddy that ice-cream was essential.

He’s only been away for a month but apparently it was that easy! (I secretly think he wanted some for himself)

We had a lovely afternoon and evening hanging out, all three of us together, but it was quite a short and meandering walk so I needed to finish the steps off after bedtime. The difference today was that I was able to walk outside! Don’t get me wrong, I do really enjoy the Walk at Home videos with Leslie Sansone but even the chance, I will always choose to be outside. And it was lovely. Fresh air, cool and clear, earphones on and music blaring. Super.

Happy to have Daddy home, happy to have successfully completed another day, happy to only have one day to go, happy to be doing something great for charity. Happy, one might say, as a Daftie Bear hugging a bollard!

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer

TWO DAYS TO GO!

So, this may be quite a dull post today. As I am sure I may have mentioned before, Fridays tend to be the same thing in this Daft Household. Walk to Monkey Music, bus home from Monkey Music, have lunch, talk with Nana and Papa(p), dinner, bed. With plenty of stories thrown in for good measure.

Step one, brekkie. In Christmas jammies. Because reasons.

Today wasn’t much different but it was lovely. The weather looked bright and breezy but lord it was also nippy in the shade! Luckily I had my insulated backpack, Wee Daftie, strapped into place so it wasn’t the worst. (Except for when it was)

When I took this photo at Fettes College, there was a drake in the water. When I looked later, it was not there. Still a pretty pic though!

We were quite early for class so we has some time in the garden at the venue. It is a lovely little space filled with grass, flowers, apple trees and benches.

Wee Daftie had me in stitches while we waited for class. I was sitting on a bench, packing up caboo, and she was running around in circles. She would do a lap, come back to me and say, “Okay. I need to go for work now. Okay. Bye!” And run away again along her little circuit. Rinse and repeat. So funny.

My favourite part was when she would edge slowly away, waiting for me to wish her a good day before she would run at full pelt. Such a funny kid.

Hug that bollard!

We made a small stop in the supermarket to buy the milk I never bought yesterday before we walked the rest of the way home. It’s about a 20 minute walk for me. It took us a lot longer. A. Lot. But it was fun. We played Stop and Go, we had a little hunt for bunnies, we counted the aeroplanes that flew overhead and tried out a new game I like to call Zigzag.

She was walking a bit slow, I was getting hungry (not gonna lie) and she was kind of just jumping across the walkway so I encouraged what she was doing, I just added a big diagonal run to move us forward. And it worked!

This is the walkway. We zigzagged our hearts out!

Home in time for lunch (yay!) with all our steps done (yay!) We enjoyed a nice chilled out afternoon before Auntie Numbnuts came over for dinner (yay!)

Two days to go! Huzzah! Super chuffed with how well we’ve done. Just another 20,000 steps to go. Yay!

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer

Usual Thursday shenanigans this morning. Littlies running about a playground and then off to feed some ducks, swans and, unusually, geese!

The geese returned!

We went to our usual park, with our usual friends, brought our usual sweetcorn for the birds, walked our usual route and had a lovely time.

They were the same geese, I presume, that we saw last week but there were four this time! I don’t really know why I was so excited by them but they were pretty friendly for geese and Wee Daftie had a great chat with one of them.

Waddle waddle waddle.

The other really cool thing that happened while we were at the pond was that we got to observe the adolescent swans practising flying. Taking off from the water, they barely lifted their feet from the water and made the most incredible honking sounds. They would then fly in a small crescent shape before landing again. When they landed, they did this amazing water skiing manoeuvre. It was fabulous and I honestly I had never seen anything like it. Nature is amazing.

After we finished feeding the birds, we said goodbye to our friends and went for a run around the park before heading to the supermarket (where I completely forgot two of the main things we actually needed) and our bus home.

Please meet Eve and Wall-E.

Having successfully walked our steps by lunchtime, we had a super lazy afternoon. We had a treat of a cookie while watching Wall-E. It’s such a cute film and about halfway through, my Wee Daftie crawled over for a snuggle while we watched together. Seems like we may be back on track after a few days of butting heads.

We made dinner together again tonight. In between playing with the kitchen utensils, she helped measure out herbs and spices, did lots of mixing (mushrooms, onion, carrot, seasoning and pork mince) and even trying to, purposely, break an egg! I was feeling ambitious so we made some meatballs for dinner AND I also made a chilli with the rest of the pack of mince for another day. Love me a food multitask session.

Tasty, eh?

After dinner, we read some more stories while planning our final three days of walking! Three days to go! I really want to do a special walk on Sunday for our last jaunt for Cancer Research but I haven’t quite decided where.

Can’t believe we’re almost done! Amazing.

This is excitement. Might be over her meatballs, it might be over the pasta or it could be the walking. Only this little idiot knows for sure.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer

We had a date with one of our best Mammy Mates and her littlies this morning. Apart from the essential emotional and caffeine based support, we have had quite a bit of physical walking support this month from this gang. This is our third walk together for Cancer Research and we decided to head to Gorgie City Farm for the morning.

Where I found her while I was in the bathroom.

I love going to the city farm. Wee Daftie loves animals and, more importantly, she likes shouting hello at them. Sadly, I didn’t take any photos this morning we were too busy having a lovely time but the lambs were cute, the chickens were in fine form, the cows where a little quiet and the ducks were very conversational.

Actually, there were two stunning ducks that were dark navy and teal in colour; almost like they had been dropped in iridescent paint. I had never seen anything like them and they were fabulous.

Couldn’t resist this wee snap. Such concentration while creating her masterpiece.

Our time was half spent walking about and talking to the animals and the other half letting the two bigger of the three littlies running about like loons in the playground. It is such a privilege to see her tiny friendships develop. They have gone from being too small to really interact to properly playing games, colouring, doing puzzles and “reading” books together.

Making pizza for dinner!

We didn’t have a day without incident but it was short lived. I decided that we should probably have a nap today, which we did, and then a creative afternoon for colouring, baking and making dinner together.

The Daft Family Household is a team so when Daddy Daftie is away, it’s left to us two to work as a duo. I feel like making a joke about being a coxless pair but Daddy Daftie may think I am calling him names. And I am discovering more and more that us girl Dafties work best when we are really working towards something together. So when I feel like we aren’t on the same page, I like to get an activity going to bring us back together.

And thankfully, for now at least, it usually does the trick!

This is what happens when you let your small human “sprinkle” flour.

We didn’t manage as many steps in the daytime so I finished off with a Leslie Sansone walk after bedtime. Happy days.

Four days to go! Crazy.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer

I don’t really want to dwell on yesterday, as I am all about moving forward, but suffice to say, we had a much better day today than yesterday. It wouldn’t have been hard, but today almost felt easy in places.

She still has selective hearing when it suits her but today it was over irrelevant things, so it was less frustrating.

I didn’t have any richer sleep last night, mind but I survived it all better!

Getting our walk on, feeling strong. Rawr.

So to keep our step count up, our spirits up and the fundraising train rolling (did I just refer to myself as a train?) I decided the best thing for us was to walk off yesterday’s funk. I didn’t want us to do the same tracks we always do but I also fancied ending up near a bus home. I love walking, don’t get me wrong, but I also like having options and choice!

And here we have the Dafties lost in a forest. Not for very long and not very deep but a wrong turn added about 30 minutes onto our walk. Oopsie.

I decided it would be good to walk along the Water of Leith towards Stockbridge. Usual places we go, just taking a different route there. I also wanted to avoid going to a park. Not that parks aren’t awesome but we were at one yesterday and we’ll be at another on Thursday so I decided walking for the sake of walking in pretty surroundings was the way forward.

Things were going swimmingly until I decided to explore a bit. I had an idea that the path would take us one way. It didn’t. So then I thought I knew where it would lead. I didn’t. We carried on regardless, admired the flora and fauna, and ended up somewhere familiar just not at all where I thought! Oh well. We found our way in the end.

Google fit literally mapped me walking us in circles. Hilarious. Every step brings is closer to our goal!

We did stop for a break, as recommended by Google fit, where we had a coffee and a look at the photos we took. I like to take photos of the scenery as we pass. And she likes knowing what stuff is do if I have a decent photo, we can look it up in one of our reference books. Which she likes too. (I think I mentioned this. Nerdy fun is the best fun)

After lunch, I built us a reading tent. Because we all need a reading tent.

Today was still long, today was still tiring but it was a good day and we smashed our steps well before we stopped for coffee. Excellent. We’re really in the home stretch with only five more days to go. Can’t believe we are almost there. So excited. So invigorated. So ready for it!

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer

I am very tired today. Not physically, more emotionally. I had a hideous night’s sleep last night and have been struggling to shake it off. (Cue the Taylor Swift music) I am historically a dreadful sleeper. Just ask my own Mammy. I generally bounce back and manage to keep things focused on the job in hand but today? Things just felt a bit out of sync.

Even this face only helped a bit today. It definitely helped but not as much as I hoped.

Of course I expected being a Mammy to be tiring. Naturally, I knew I would lose a lot of things like sleep, privacy, alone time whenever I wanted, after she was born and I took on the full-time, full on role, of Co-Head Daftie Wrangler with Daddy Daftie as my co-wrangler. Sometimes though it does feel like a bit of a pressure cooker.

I guess that seems like a rough analogy but pressure cookers are great, and the end result is yummy, it just can get pretty intense at times.

Boxed Daftie. A bit like boxed wine, just less classy.

Now, add to the mix that Wee Daftie is now a fully fledged toddler. She is clever, she is sassy, she is funny, she is stubborn, she is my mini-me and she is also currently enjoying a phase of intentionally not listening. Which is joyous. Or not so much.

On days when I am fully stocked with energy, patience, and confidence in our little team, I can handle anything. Other days, when pesky things like exhaustion and doubt linger, I am less capable. I manage, but I don’t like it and I definitely feel shorter on my even temper.

Moody tunnel on the way to the park.

Every fiber in my body knows she isn’t trying to wind me up or upset me when she is in a ignoring mood, she’s just being a small irrational human, with their small irrational human ways. We just kept bumping heads today. Not physically, thankfully, seeing as her head is massive. I totally know I should have been more patient but I also couldn’t find it.

Pancakes for breakfast, a very Monday thing to do.

We had a fun time over breakfast, less fun getting ready to go out. We had fun at the park, less so leaving and on the journey home. We had no fun over lunch but a lovely book reading session after. A day of peaks and troughs.

I made a decision before dinner to try and be more patient and understanding, because I didn’t want to end the day poorly. And what are the two things that bring people together? Food and music. And what are my two favourite things in the world (outside of the Daft Family Household) food and music. I turned on one of our favourite playlists, 90s rock, plonked her on the counter top and we prepped our veggies and sausages for dinner together. Perfect. My tired bones and listless spirit were infinitely lifted as we chopped, sprinkled and mixed together.

My sister shared this over the family WhatsApp today. It is beautiful and oh so fitting.

We got most of our steps done in the morning but I had to finish them off with Leslie Sansone after bedtime. So the day ended much better than I hoped earlier on!

Tomorrow is another day. I am praying for a better night’s rest tonight. Wee Daftie, and Cancer Research, deserve me at my best.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer

Sundays are a day of rest for many but not for these Dafties!

Digging and planting.

Auntie Numbnuts recently acquired a bed in a community garden near her house so when she suggested we go and, ahem, help, I jumped at the chance. Well. Walked.

Duel wielding Daftie!

The silly thing is that the garden is actually along a bus route that leaves outside our house. The garden itself would have been too far for me to walk happily so I did what any sensible person would do and walked us about halfway before getting a bus the rest.

We spotted a cherry blossom along the way…or a geelly bom bom, as my little idiot calls them. (It took the longest to work out what she meant, especially as she kept pointing at ANYTHING while shouting, “Look! Geeelly bom bom!”)

Anyway, we arrived a bit soggy and windswept a little after ten. Wee Daftie wasted no time in getting stuck in. Quite literally. Auntie Numbnuts was an excellent teacher and her student helped planting seeds, veggies, watering and searching for frogs.

Frog spawn but no frogs.

When we were all dug out and after Wee Daftie shared out the muffins she brought with her for Auntie Numbnuts, Auntie Johnny and Jonathan, we headed for the bus home for lunch. It was really sweet but when she knew we were seeing our friends today, she wanted to bring some of the muffins we made yesterday to share. Such a sweet gesture and I was do proud it was all her own.

After a soupy lunch (much needed for our chilled bones) we had a relaxing afternoon chat with Wee Daftie’s cousins and much book reading. So, actually, quite restful in the end!

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer

Being two and a half, Wee Daftie does sometimes get her words mixed up (which is hilarious) but she professed earlier in the week on that she “needed” a flapjack. I think she just wanted one but absolutely insisted that it was essential to her existence. With that in mind, I planned our day today around sourcing the life-giving treat.

Look at her eating a tree in her coffee!

Now, I love to bake and I reckon I am reasonably competent at it. However, flapjacks? I never seem to get them as good as I feel they should be. They are either too crumbly and buttery or too chewy. Shop bought ones always seem better to me.

I decided it would be worth a big walk in the caboo as the weather looked fine and we had 10,000 steps to do. So I decided on walking to Craigleith shopping centre as it has a Costa, a small slide and climbing frame and is a good 45 minute walk away from home. Sorted.

Another bridge, another opportunity to shout nonsense under it.

We set off not long after brekkie and had a lovely walk where we watched cyclists, joggers, dog walkers and listened to birds singing away. It was lovely and sunny but my goodness the wind was sharp at times! It probably didn’t help that I hadn’t wrapped up a lot. The sunshine was fab but instilled a confidence in a warmth that just was not there.

Peek-a-boo!

We ran about the slides and climbing frame a bit before heading off for the aforementioned coffee and flapjack.

After we had coffee and some colouring in at the coffee shop, we walked to get the bus home. I say walked. We played “Stop and Go” again. This time though, Wee Daftie added a few new bits in. Instead of just shouting “Go!” she now says, “Green means go!” And “Red means stop!” Super fun.

Baking muffins. Much more successful than flapjacks.

We made it home in time for a lunch of tasty carrot soup and bread, before a big nap and muffin baking before dinner. We had some soft pears and a slightly wrinkly apple so boom. Tasty treats!

She had a great time mixing and helping me measure the ingredients out. And she especially enjoyed sprinkling oats over one of the twelve muffins we made. It was meant to be over all of them but she really seemed to just focus on the one in the middle.

Seriously. All the oats.

It was a good day today. Not that other days aren’t but today felt special; chilled out and fun.

Here’s to another fun adventure tomorrow. Seeing as I know where we are going but I don’t know exactly how to get there means it really will be an adventure! Wish us luck.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer

It is another quick and cheerful post today. We have officially been walking for three weeks now and I am starting to feel it a bit in my old gams. Expertly toned and muscley but also quite tired.

These calves aren’t just good for walking, you know.

Usual Friday for us today. I walked us up to Monkey Music and then we went for a walk back to the park to see if the geese were still there. They weren’t.

Still, we had good class of making lots of noise, sorry, music before feeding sweetcorn to the duck and swans.

Loves a swan, bit unsure of a pigeon.

She gets a bit nervous around pigeons but will get up close and personal with the other birds, no problem. I’m not really sure why. I don’t remember a specific time when a pigeon flew at her or attacked or even just pecked a bit close but she really doesn’t like them.

She was super brave today though and sat quite happily as they flew about and edged up next to her.

We would have stayed longer but the drizzle started and we had to get home for lunch.

Little soggy but happy.

After waiting for a lifetime for a bus, we got home in time for lunch and another Mammy’s Day surprise from Daddy Daftie. He can be such a softie and really spoils me. I wasn’t planning on opening it today but he wanted to make it was intact. I may have told him that the box “rattled”. Turns out everything was perfect.

“Ooh! Chocolate! Smells amazing.” Gigantic sniff. “Smell it. What’s it smell like? Chocolate!”

Going to save them for Mother’s Day as it will also be the final day of our month of walking!

Target reached by the time we got home so a nice relaxing evening for me! Happy Dafties, happy days.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer

Friends! Not the TV show, those real life creatures that are so useful for helping us get through stuff. Y’know, like life.

Friends. Great for playing hide and seek with.

I have gained a new appreciation for my pals since having Wee Daftie. Not just the old ones or the new ones or the fleeting ones but all of them. And it’s not that a didn’t appreciate them before, of course I did, but it does feel like a different kind of respect and love for them these days.

The best pals give the best cuggers.

Let’s start with the Pre-Daftie Pals. Some of these folk I have known a long time. A looooong time. Some well over ten years and some since I was a wide-eyed and naive teenager, first living away from home. We’ve all moved around, some have even moved away and then back again, but we’ve never really lost touch.

Which is amazing because I realise now how much I need them. Even if we don’t share the same postcode anymore and our (my) social life has drastically changed, I get such strength knowing they are just a phone call or message away. Why? They keep me connected to who I was before having Wee Daftie. I was Calli before I was Mammy and I can only be the best Mammy for Daftie when I am the best version of myself I can be.

Friends help us learn!

I will swear blind that I haven’t changed. But of course I have. I don’t think necessarily all that much but I am different – and I hope in a good way. These guys and gals know me from top to toe and aren’t afraid to talk me down from high horses or up from low valleys.

The other brilliant thing about them knowing me before Daftie means that they will always have plenty of stories to tell her about me as she grows. Even if they involve me falling over my own feet. Which happens more than I care to admit to.

Geese friends we saw today!

Now, my Mammy Mates. From the couples we met through our antenatal course with NCT to those I met through baby classes, I have met a lot of Mammies and their littlies in the past couple of years. Some Daddies too, but mainly Mammies. I haven’t stayed close with everyone, naturally, but I have met some absolutely cracking friends. I honestly never expected that. Sure, I figured I would meet people to have playdates and coffees with while we try and coax interaction from the Small Humans but actual people that I actually like? Nah.

Why are these friends so important? It is so valuable to have people going through similar things as me and my little family. On a practical level as well as on an emotion one. From recipes swaps, baby product advice, potty training chat, nappy chat, feeding advice to having a totally understanding ear when you admit that you just want to hide on your toddler for a while where she can’t find you, I love having a tribe of gals with different points of view who just get it as they are going through it right now too.

Friends are great for mealtimes.

Next, my family. For the longest time, my Mammy, my Daddy and my sisters have been some of my closest friends and will always be my favourite people. No one knows me quite like how they know me. No one is able to bring perfect, specific-to-me advice in the same way my family can.

Why are they especially important now? Having people know me as a child genuinely helps me to try and understand Wee Daftie. Anytime my Mammy or one of my sisters say, “Now who does that remind me of?!” when I tell a silly story about how stubborn she is or how contrary, it helps me to take a moment to see things from where Wee Daftie is coming from. To be reminded that she is a mini version of me, good and bad, hilarious and annoying. It doesn’t solve anything but I know what it was like to be small and misunderstood so maybe I should cut her some slack.

Sometimes.

Friends help us celebrate the good stuff.

And, finally, the most important one of all; my Big Human, Daddy Daftie.

(He may disown me after he reads this post)

For as long as we have known each other, we have been pals. And for as long as I can remember, he has been my best buddy. And why is this important to me? To be a good team for Wee Daftie, we need to be friends. We need to be able to talk about everything, good and bad, to find the best path for our Daft Family Household. And for me, I need my best friend to tell me when I’m being unreasonable, to rest when I’m pushing too hard or that I’m doing okay when I don’t feel it.

I am so thankful to be raising my little idiot with my best friend. And I don’t take it for granted.

Daft Buddies walking. I hope she’ll still want to be friends when she’s older.

Back to today, met up with my Mammy Mates for a play and chat, followed by a big walk home, via a duck pond where we saw some geese! So a geese pond?

Steps finished off in the house in the afternoon dancing around the kitchen. Only ten days to go! Amazing.

And thank you for being a friend.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/dafties-walking-over-cancer