Feeling Grateful

I used to do a weekly gratitude linky on a Friday... but I'm a bit rubbish at remembering (and bothering) to keep it up, so I sort of fell by the wayside. But today, I thought I would resurrect it - because I'm feeling decidedly grateful.

Here are a few of the things I am grateful for today:

• S has moved from Ladybird Room to Bumblebee Room, with what seems to have been minimal fuss, no disruption and even a certain amount of excitement. I went to collect her from her first day, and found her sitting in her new key worker's lap, reading The Cat In The Hat.

• Last night after tea, S was plastered in melted Easter egg. I said, "would you like to have a shower?" at which point she jumped up, climbed the stairs, and waited for me in the bathroom. When it was time to get out of the shower, she said goodbye to her bath toys one by one and put them away. We got her dried and into her PJs, and then she sat in my lap to read The Cat In The Hat with a massive grin on her face, before giving me a kiss and a cuddle goodnight, having a little giggle as we looked for Ted, and then going into her cot and going to sleep with a smile. I have no idea how I produced a child who does these things.

My child is a legend.

• I am lucky enough to have a job I enjoy. I am also lucky enough to be able to fit that job around other things. I can take an afternoon off to go to a stay and play at nursery, and I can do over time in the evenings if I so wish. I have money in the bank and clothes on my back, and life is sweet.

• Because S and I live alone, it's up to us how we decorate our house. So our walls are increasingly covered in S's pictures that come home from nursery - the photo sheets they give me, and her numerous  pieces of artwork. I love that my interior design is toddler chic - including the grubby hand prints all the way up the stairs!

• I recently bumped into the mother of an old friend. She is a retired teacher, and someone I have always looked up to as being "someone I would like to be like." It hadn't occurred to me until we started chatting, that she had been a single mother the entire time I was growing up. My friend lived up the road, with her mother - who never re-married until we were almost fully grown. There's not much point to this one, except that I'm really glad to have bumped into her, and really glad to remember that someone I've always looked up to was actually a single mother. Single mothers can be role models too, people!

• S is doing the whole vocabulary spurt thing, which means that every single day she comes out with a multitude of new words - including pointing to the turquoise stone in my necklace and saying "boo" before moving on to point out my nose, my ears, my cheeks, my mouth. It's so much fun to see her learning all these new words!

If you have written a post recently that's about being positive, happy or grateful, please feel free to link it up here.