You are my sonshine

(Yes, that is the beach you can see a glimpse of in the background. Thank-you Zoe, for recommending this cafe)

I have started to take Spunky Monkey out of school on a Wednesday, a trial for this term. He is finding the five days of Prep very tiring and this is leading to two things. (1) At school, his concentration is lacking. (2) At home, we are having a lot of meltdowns. Miss Moo Moo went off to Daycare, leaving us to spend the day together. I really want this time to be just us, one on one, no agenda. However, I did have a few mummy jobs to do in the morning, so to compensate, we went out for lunch and to the beach in the afternoon.

Unfortunately I had taken the camera back to the car before heading off on our beach walk. Collecting and exploring along the shoreline and in the dunes. Discoveries: shells, rocks, sticks, crab claws and gentleness, humour, excitement, wonder, understanding. After walking for a long stretch we sat on a deserted part of the beach. Drawing letters in the sand, making lasso's from beach vines and listening to the birdsong in the casuarina trees.

We thought we had made a friend in a tiny bird who was staying very close by to where we played. At one time I saw her come closer, just a couple of metre's away and nestle into the sand. A loud noise from Spunky Monkey sent her running off again , but I realised something and instantly her behaviour made sense. We carefully crawled further up into the dunes to discover two, small, perfect eggs, coffee in colour with chocolate speckles. Mama bird wasn't being friendly, she was protecting her young. Once we understood each other, we moved back and she went to her eggs, fluffed up her feathers and sat. Actually, we all sat there for a very long time, quiet (Mama bird and me) and contemplative, as we watched the vibrant, turquoise waves dance in the winter sunshine.

It was an amazing moment in time, and the first time I had sat still for along while.

Thank-you Mama Nature.