To preface this post I need to say straight off that all in all it’s been a brilliant day and in general I do enjoy a cathartic moan so bear with me. Despite the day on balance being ace it did start in rather a ghastly manner with the Olephant waking up with an ear splitting scream at 2am. One-way or another being not asleep yet not quite awake whilst also being very vocal about it continued until 5am. Once Ollie had decided that maybe he did fancy a little sleep Pose and I quickly resettled secure in the knowledge that at least we would now get a decent lie in as he’d be shattered. We crawled pathetically out of our tent a mere two hours later at 7am. This after all was the sum and total of our allotted sleeping time from our tiny dictator…we didn’t deserve anymore due to our parenting game being weak.
As is often the way, once up and about, the day picked up in a grand old fashion. A quick breakfast a phonecall to the AA about our car and then we headed off to one of the island’s beaches where we spent a good hour or so seriously searching for shells. Luckily, as the island is called Shell Island, we found more than could be easily carried and began to be choosey over what would make it into our haul. Ollie’s method of being choosey was a bit more involved than mine or Pose’s and involved a certain degree of surreptitious licking of shells. We did try and stop him each time but he was really quite determined.
Once a sufficient quantity had been gathered we we’re allowed to go back to our tent for a bit of downtime. This downtime involved Pose and I attempting to actually get some downtime whilst Ollie alternately played with his shells and threw himself onto the one of us if we had the temerity to begin to look vaguely relaxed. His guerilla tactics worked, and downtime lasted almost 40 minutes until we conceded defeat and hastily scoffed a quick lunch before venturing out.
As it turns out Ollivov may have had a point as we decided to treck across the Island to the sand dunes which were really impressive. They were yet another example of how things in Snowdonia just seem to be done on a bigger scale than elsewhere. At least 40ft high and covering half a mile or so the sand dunes created an amazing little sub domain where kids were merrily throwing themselves about and climbing without much fear of being hurt. Ollie kind of got it too, in that he enjoyed playing in the sand – the Majesty of these rolling dunes utterly escaped him. He did say wow a few times, but it felt hollow as though he was merely placating Pose and I. Given that this his first time really of seeing any dunes/major sand/beaches I worry that he has decided this is the norm…
After a thorough explore it had crept towards 2pm and was time for us to get the car for the AA. Despite our ringing at 7.39am they couldn’t have come any earlier due to high tide cutting the island off from visitors. Long story short after a harrowing game of follow the leader to Pothmadog and the local parts dealer we had to replace break pads and discs. It could have been worse and at least that worry has been lifted.
Not much else happened past this point apart from a swim in a local pool with the aim of utterly exhausting Ollie before bed to ensure a good night’s sleep. Frankly a really brilliant day and despite the ominous weather forecast I can’t wait for tomorrow.
*Update – sleep was fine, more or less, at the end of day two!
Parenting a Monster. 
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