The One with the Space Hopper

The boy has discovered the great outdoors!


I don't know if it's because Easter is late this year but for a bank holiday weekend we have enjoyed the most glorious weather.

So the boy has been on the swings more times than I can count, had his first, fleeting taste of ice cream in the park (I had an old school 99 cornet so he licked the end of the flake then took a whooping great chunk off it) and spent loads of time in Nanny P's garden crawling around on the grass getting us all to play countless games with balls, hula hoops and a long forgotten and previously redundant Reebok trampoline (a one minute fitness wonder my Mum had that she swore she'd use use but went the same way as the hula hoop - the shed). 

But best of all he's fallen in love with a space hopper. A large, bright green space hopper with a little black face and two sticky up ears to hold onto. I had one as a child, although mine was orange and I used to call it a "hoppy" but regardless of colour or name I loved it too.

Nanny P had got it in a few summers ago for a visiting friend and her little boy so he had something to play with in her garden. She might be fickle with her keep fit equipment but she 's thoughtful like that my Mum. But if the friends lad and my boy happen to be there at the same time my money's on the boy to get in first with the bouncy bundle of boinginess! He has devised a game for it which evokes peels of laughter.

The only trouble is it's knackering!

The boy has the typical balance of a 14 month old. Fine one second and rubbish the next. So you have to position him on the space hopper, get him to grip the ears, then hold onto him for all your worth and bounce boy and hopper up and down across the lawn whilst saying "Boing. Boing. Boing!" repeatedly!

That's bloody tiring in anybodys book but with a dodgy back it's not only inadvisable but virtually impossible.

Enter, and god bless, Granddad G for his tireless grandson bouncing abilities! It's worth it to see the boys beaming smile and hear those infectious giggles but I remember bouncing around my Mum and Dad's garden as a kid unaided so I'm just waiting for the day when the boy can do the same.

And so is his Granddad!!