Hibernating with Mole, Hedgehog and Beaver.

It is a typical January with Mole, Hedgehog and Beaver. This means that it is too cold to be outdoors for long and too expensive for indoor entertainment places, so we stay in the house a lot. This is actually quite relaxing once I learn to not mind about a messy house and noisy children.

I can always escape to walk the dog.

To be honest I find the dog more peaceful than the children at the moment. I don’t mean to sound unloving towards the children, but dogs are just so much easier. They don’t whinge or moan or scream, or trample all over the bed, or grab your arm when you’re holding a mug of coffee, or refuse to go to bed. They can’t answer back. They just look cute and lay quietly in your lap for a tummy tickle. When dogs are full of energy you can simply let them into the garden for a run around and they won’t complain about it being cold. They don’t seem to mind the sub-zero temperatures and they don’t need any clothes because of their awesome furry coat.

Lately I’m also finding that I can escape at odd moments during the weekend to do some solo trips. This I’ve not done since pre-child days and is quite a novelty. So far I’ve gone to a yoga class, gone to a parkrun and joined my local cold water swimming lido. The last one may make me sound bonkers, but it is surprisingly addictive. My new wetsuit just arrived so I must be serious about this. Last Sunday the water was nine degrees. It felt like pins and needles all over my skin, but once my breathing had calmed down, it was amazing. The only problem is warming up again afterwards. This is usually done with a hot water bottle tucked down my coat, plus having the blower on full blast all the way home in the car.

But back to Mole, Hedgehog and Beaver… last weekend we had pancakes for breakfast - after I’d had a leisurely lie-in, (I’ve trained Mole to bring me tea and toast in the mornings now). Later they all played games and generally trashed their bedroom - but I just didn’t look. Then in the afternoon we baked a cake. Well I made the cake while Beaver licked the bowl. Mole and Hedgehog were more keen on the icing and decorating with sprinkles stage. We did a movie night after it got dark, using the projector for the big cinema screen experience. It was all in all a brilliant hibernation day - one where we all just want to stay indoors together and be cosy.

If I was a millionaire, this is the time of year that I would decamp to my second home in Greece, or perhaps Hawaii. But anyway, back to reality…

When we’re not hibernating, the outings that we do go on in Winter time tend to be walks with Coco. Mole, Hedgehog and Beaver tend to resist walking as if it’s the worst kind of torture there is. Therefore we usually have to bribe them with promises of hot chocolate afterwards to get them to come at all. My other ploy is to lead everyone round a large circuit of woodland so that they get totally lost. When they keep asking where the car is I say “This way!” and keep leading them onwards until we’ve completed the circuit and they are dead on their feet. This works to get the children to do a longer walk, but they usually hate me afterwards.

Sometimes it is not worth the hassle, so Mr M&H and I will split up - one of us takes the children to the swings while the other one walks the dog and everyone is happy. I’m usually the one with Coco. It is fun to watch her sniffing everything, the world is basically one big sniff stick to her. If she finds a stream or any kind of water she goes a bit nuts, running in frantic big circles and splashing wildly. The woods are like her adventure playground, and she never gets tired.

My other Winter activity I used to enjoy pre-children was going to the theatre and art exhibitions. I’ve been taking Mole and Hedgehog to a few of these, in the hope that some culture will sink in. Last Saturday we went to see the English National Ballet doing Sleeping Beauty. Mole and Hedgehog enjoyed it suitably I think, although it did go on for a bit long. The best part was in the first five minutes of the opening scene, when Hedgehog leaned over to me and whispered “Mummy, what is the point of this?”. They got excited about the pre-show snacks and about the little binoculars fixed between the seats, which they kept passing across me to each other through the whole thing. At one point Hedgehog dropped them on the floor and was crawling around under the seats for about ten minutes looking for them. This Sunday I’m taking Mole and hedgehog to see a show of Aladdin, which Mole and Hedgehog are very excited about, having watched the disney version and the latest film version over Christmas time. We shall see what they make of the am dram pantomime version in the village hall.

Ten-pin bowling is another winner for everyone, we went on boxing day. They have the aisle bars and the launch ramps for smaller children, so that Mole, Hedgehog and Beaver have a fighting chance of hitting the pins. Mole is getting good at her swing now. Hedgehog has her own special technique of swinging the ball with both hands and then dramatically dropping it onto the aisle, where it rolls down at the pace of a tortoise. Beaver just has to heave her ball onto the ramp for toddlers, and then give it a push. This time Beaver was in the lead until the final game, when Mr M&H beat her by one point, much to my disappointment.

We also had Mother-in-Law with us over Christmas, which was lovely as she lives far away so it’s nice to spend some time with her. It also forced me to clear out the spare room and get a futon bed in there. Nothing like family coming to stay to make you sort out the house. The children had their usual influx of toys at Christmas time, which needed another clear-out of their bedroom to make space for everything. They are awful at keeping their room tidy, so mostly I ignore it, then about once a month I get fed up and have a sort out when they are at school, throwing out a bin liner full of tiny broken bits and under bed fluff in the process. They never notice that anything is missing.

Christmas and New Year was like an extended hibernation from work and other unnecessary outings. We did woodland walks, went to some Church carols, and didn’t use the car too much. The Christmas tree left part of itself behind in the form of endless needles that are still surfacing three weeks later. It was beautiful while it lasted though.

Now we’ve got two more weeks until the February half term, when we can get a change of scene in Devon. I’m looking forward to our holiday house, walks on the beach, and generally hibernating… somewhere else.

Down the woods at Christmas time.