It’s been a very sunny day, and this morning was particularly warm and glorious.
Fat Sister, King Russell and their two-year-old daughter Bean came over first thing and we sat in the garden enjoying the weather and the prospect of the bank holiday weekend stretching out before us.
Bean was playing with some water in a bucket. Suddenly she took off all her clothes and was just about to get into it when I said ‘Do you want to get in the big bucket?’ She looked confused so I led her to something that she’s been walking past for weeks, unaware of the joy that is my hot tub.
As soon as the lid was off, Bean knew what had to happen next. She marched off to get towels, instructing me to get changed into my cossie. I didn’t need to be asked twice and a few moments later we were sliding into the water together, Bean beaming with excitement and enthusiastically announcing, “splishy, sploshy, splashy” repeatedly as she bounced on my lap.
She immediately started ordering everyone else to come in: Mummy in, Erik in, Daddy in, Leftwing Idiot in. She had a very clear vision of what she wanted, unconstrained by the realities of space or time. We spent the next hour splashing and sploshing together before we had a quick lunch and then both went for much needed naps.
She was a very happy beaming Bean and I was a very happy aunty.