Mog's Sunday.

It was a ROSY Sunday; the annual picnic for ROSY families. Beautiful surroundings, bouncy castle, tattoos and balloons, Soundabout, and children, children everywhere. Oh, and peacocks.

Mog wanted to stretch out on the soft green grass, but wasn't interested in joining in with anything else. Soundabout - one of her favourite activities - ignored completely, not even the hint of a flicker of a smile as Soyndabout Steve sang and played for her. Perhaps she, like me, was rather too aware of the huge number of Soundabout children missing from the gathering. Empty chairs. A lovely afternoon, beautiful weather, good friends, oodles of cake. But too many missing children this year.

And then time to go home, ad for complicated reasons to do with the occasional apparent injustice involved in being the youngest child when the older one has finished exams and left school, combined with transport issues, it was necessary to call in and visit some puppies on the way home.

I didn't bother unloading a non-responsive Mog from the car. She'd opted out of everything else, wasn't talking to me or being particularly present at all, and had been enjoying a fine game of seizure tennis with a friend of ours earlier in the day.

But after tLP and our friends had had their puppy fix (ok me too, seriously people, is there anything cuter than a pile of 8 week old puppies all scrambling for food and love?), one little puppy was brought out to say hello to Mog.

And non-responsive, mostly absent Mog left the building, to be replaced with a very enthusiastic happy smiling utterly absorbed 11 year old, who was completely besotted by the pile of scrumptiousness attempting to lick her chin.

And then we callously returned the puppy and drive home. But Mog remembered, and wanted me to make sure that school knew so it could be her news item.

And now both girls are ganging up on me and demanding a puppy. It's not happening. We are not having one. However much tLP makes bambi eyes and Imi shouts her silent yes.

But I know she enjoyed the snuggles. - just see the difference between Mog with puppies, and Mog with perfect afternoon full of Mog-centred attention and activity.

Tia