#The best bits

For me there are three types of best bits, the bits that make my heart swell just because they are joyful, those that fill my eyes because they are just normal and I feel relief and those that make me appreciate life.

Having children is joyful. Feeding the duckerlings and the cyganets, chortling laughter when we jump in puddles, family days to the beach, the Secret Garden or the zoo. Splashing in the bath, bouncing on the trampoline, making cakes and cutting out biscuits are just to name a few.

Having three birth children has really highlighted the difference in some behaviours exhibited by adopted children, so when child 4 suddenly does something the older three always did naturally, well that's a best bit. - when child 4 first came every woman was called mummy until one day I became mummy and everyone else became Jan (our social workers name), the first time he cried because he hurt himself, at first he never cried, so, as a family we would always kiss his hurt better and give him a hug even though he made it very clear he didn't want us too. Now he sometimes cries when he hurts himself.  After months of asking when he was going home he told my mum and dad "this is where my home is" when they dropped him back to us.


As I finish this child 3 and 4 are asleep in their beds, child 1 is out at an end of exams party and child 2 is watching TV. The house is quiet and calm and I have an enormous cup of hot tea. Perfect, the best bit of almost every day.