Week 24
It was day 4 of another camping trip and it was a hard day. The previous 4 days were challenging too and I think that added to my tiredness but I have to say it ended up being our best day so far during this trip. Nixie is obviously going through something and she's been so incredibly challenging, amazing me with how defiant she can be! There were lots and lots of tears, her wanting to constantly run off to where I couldn't see her and ignoring me completely & laughing when I would have to go get her which led to me having to put her in the tent while I cooked which I wasn't happy about but it became a matter of keeping her safe. We don't do timeouts and we don't do punishments so I found it really hard. I think the heat had a lot to do with it and I knew she was tired but she was also refusing naps so she was just so up and down all day, going from happy, loving and easy going to super angry in an instant. I felt so incerdibly drained and was feeling a bit moody & tired myself and at times just couldn't wait until the day was over. But between all the tears and upsets we did end up having a great day exploring the woods where we climbed trees, played in forts, had picnics which even included some cuddles & we also made some more animal friends. Although one of her big upsets happened because we crossed paths with her Tomato & Sausage (two of the horses that she loves to ride) who were on a hack in the woods with other children on their backs and I really felt for her because all day long she had actually been talking about them and finding trees to ride and hug pretending it was her sweet Tomato and with the mood she was in there was no way that wasn't going to cause some big tears but thankfully after a good cuddle she was feeling a bit better!