Play Date with the McVeys.

I'm looking forward to the day the "Dab" no longer needs to be a part of every photo. ( but I think I'll just let it run its course.)

The McVey children spent the day with us. The bigs were happy to see their friends again after the Christmas break. 

I took the children on a bush walk this afternoon and we ended up playing on the beach at low tide. A good part of it was muddy mangrove so the boys ended up knee-deep in mud at some point. Our big boy managed to lose both his sandals in the mud when he got stuck. He was a little bit sad about it and said so. Ever the sentimental one, it was no surprise, coming from him.

When "you can always buy a new pair" didn't work, I told him about the time I, as a child, dropped my Lion King watch in a lake. (It might even have happened in New Zealand, now that I think of it.) It's hard dealing with our children's negative feelings and not being able to do anything about it. Making small light of it, or minimising the negative feelings are tempting, but we generally do our best to stay with the discomfort and acknowledge the feelings, even if we can't make them go away.

I guess having a good personal story to demonstrate empathy doesn't hurt either. Maybe that's why I dropped that watch all those years ago. :)