5 Things that brightened up my week:
1. WATERSTONES AND IT’S MAGICAL LITTLE CHILDREN’S SECTION
Although Maia was more attracted to the toys than the books, she did sit on my lap for a couple of stories, and I was able to browse through a couple of books I’d picked up on the way in whilst she rummaged for tiny dinosaurs and wind up torches to play with.
2. THIS POEM
I found this on the last page of Christa D’Souza’s The Hot Topic. I hadn’t heard of Christa D’Souza, but I had heard of the poet Rumi.
3. WARM MILK AND MARSHMALLOWS
I took Maia into town this week and although I spent a large portion of the time asking her to “come back”, “stop running away”, and “not go out the door”, we did have a moment of calm, the two of us just sitting, opposite each other, enjoying sandwiches and warm milk.
I was determined not to spend too much money on lunch that afternoon, ( toasted paninis can be awfully overpriced..) so I bought a loaf of bread in M&S for 45p and some ham for £1. (I also pushed the boat out and bought a Vanilla Bean Smoothie for £1.50..). Although it wasn’t the most elaborate of dishes, I was so satisfied with my money-saving-bulk-buy that it made up for the severe lack of..tastes and textures. – Plus we still had the remainder of the loaf to take home..
I asked the barista for some warm milk for Maia, I said not to worry about the marshmallows, and she said “are you sure? I’ll just put them on the side and you can take them home or have them yourself!”…She did, and of course Maia noticed them before I had the chance to take them away…
4. FOOD CONSUMED OUTSIDE OF THE HOME, AT NIGHT
I don’t go out for dinner often. I’ll have lunch out every couple of weeks maybe, but food consumed outside of the home, at night, is a rarity. So Thursday night was a real treat because not only did I get to enjoy my delicious food with a wonderful group of people, I also didn’t have to wipe up any spillages or fetch water/milk/cheese/peas every two-five minutes. – It was a nice treat to remain seated for the duration of a meal.
5. THE CHILDREN IN NEED CUPCAKE
Being bright yellow, covered in sprinkles and with a great big one-eyed bear poking out the top, of course Maia picked this cupcake out of all the other healthy options in Greggs. I removed the plastic, disposed of/consumed the sprinkles, bit a big chunk out of the sponge, and left maybe three actual bites for the child. 
The Colourful Kind 