All the mornings of childhood should be like this

On Monday Little E and I had a lovely outing, just the two of us. We drove to Hillarys Boat Harbour, which is about 25 minutes up the coast. It was an easy drive with no screaming. When we got there, she consented to go in the pram and remained in it until we got to the child-friendly beach. There is a playground there that E loves that is just hard enough to be challenging for her but not so tricky that my heart is in my mouth every moment (given she has neither fear nor sense so far as climbing is concerned). She clambered up the ladder and through the tunnel, stopping at every window to gleefully "peek boo!" everyone on the outside.

The beach itself was about as stereotypically beautiful as anyone could hope for; clear, clear water with barely a movement of waves, white sand, not too hot, crowded but not excessively so with happy families at vac-swim classes. I am crossing all my fingers and toes that this morning will have got E over her beach fears. They certainly weren't in sight as she pranced and splashed and we did dozens of ring-a-rosies, giggling every time she splashed down. We had a mid-swim break to sit on a towel whereupon she insisted upon feeding half her strawberries and grapes to me, after which she actually demanded to return to the water.

Then it was time to wash the salt off ("shooow-a time, shooow-a time!") and put dry clothes on. And then the highlight of the morning for E - ice cream time. She hoovered her way through an extravagantly priced strawberry gelati ($4.60 for a child sized scoop?!), smearing it all over her face as any self respecting child should. After that she announced "home time? Eli watching Bop?" (Bop=Spot). And seeing as it was a conveniently timed request, and she was very pleasant about getting back in the pram, we made our way back to the carpark, and then home.

At home she did get a few minutes of her beloved Bop whilst I produced cheesy pasta, and then she went to bed without fuss.

A lovely morning all round.**

** Followed by a completely feral afternoon in which she screamed every time the little friend who had come to visit touched one of her toys, barely wanted to move from Mummy's lap, and then got put in her room for repeatedly touching the DVD player after being told not to. Sigh. Such are the inconsistencies of toddlerhood.