Wednesday

J-Man is in Kerikeri with Grandma, having a good time. I thought we would go to a library Storytime since I only had littlies.

We were too late for the one on at our local library, so we decided to go to the one at the mall- I needed to take money to a different bank to pay for J-Man's DS, so it worked fine.

Except...when I got in the car, it wouldn't start...then it did, hooray...then we bunny-hopped a little down the road, then it stopped...strange.

It started again, so we got going once more, but when we gt to the local library, I thought it wasn't working, and we had better call the AA.

I got out some books, and we had our own little Storytime in the car. I was very embarrassed to find that there was nothing wrong with the car battery- I was out of petrol.

I've never done anything that dopey before. In my own defense I will say that we have regularly gone 70kms after the orange (fuel) light has gone on, and it was only on 40km. I had even decided, since we were running late for the Storytime, not to get petrol on the way, but I would fill up on the way home. I could have done so yesterday, but judging by the clock, I didn't have any need to, and since it was pouring down- I didn't bother.

Well...that was embarrassing, and made worse by the (very sweet) mechanic, who looked at me in amusement as though this is something I probably do on a regular sort of a basis.

We got to the mall eventually, and got some lunch. We went to the toyshop to get the next piece in the My Little Pony Ponyville collection. Princess has the entire set, almost all of which she has paid for herself. Tombliboo amused himself with Bob the Builder balls, and a bigger-than-mini trampoline in-store. Princess aas a tendency to hover over him, and chase him wherever he goes, trying to pull him the way she feels he ought to go.

It is quite frustrating for me, and immensely so for her very-independent brother. No amount of remonstrating with her seems to sink in. Tombliboo is decidedly against being told very much at all, and is more inclined to do the opposite. I treat him with gentleness- following behind, and gently guiding him when we need to leave. I'm not entirely sure why Princess feels she needs to do things differently. I'm almost 100% certain she wouldn't like to be bossed around in the same way. It is funny that she acts like a mother to him, but so unlike his own mother.

He amuses other shoppers with his sweet antics. He "oohs' and "ahhhs" and "woahs" over all kinds of things. He also loves to smell the flowers at he florist, which looks insanely cute. He also squeals and giggles with delight as he runs from store to store...or will stop and deliberately step in ever square on the floor. I both love, and hate to go shopping with him :0) But today was fun- I wasn't in a hurry, I was happy to go at toddler speed, stopping to look at anything and everything that took his fancy.

We got home in time to watch Diego, which they both love. Tombliboo fell asleep soon after, and Princess got busy drawing and colouring parrots. She had a plan in mind, which shared with me later, and the result of which is now on her door (see photo above).

She hopped in to bed early, when it wasn't working out quite as she'd like, and Tombliboo joined her. That sorted the upset out very quickly, and now they are both happily playing with tiny ponies.