Four plus one minus one still equals four ...

Being the first weekend of the school holidays, we have managed to luck out and the rugrats are going to take it in turns to spend a week with their grandparents on their "f.." (they call it a farm, the MOTH states it is too small to be a farm and it can only realistically be called a "f..")

The rugrats played "rock, paper, scissors" to see who was going to go first. S won and we drove her to Oamaru and dropped her off this morning. A mild twinge was felt as she insisted on packing her own bag before we left home, and wheeling it down to the car "all on her own self".

As we drove away and she ran along the ridge beside the road waving and yelling, I thought that she looked so tall, and yet, too small to be left "alone". Whenever she has gone anywhere without the MOTH and I, it has always been in the company of her big brother. This is her first real adventure by herself.

Of course she'll be OK ... I mean, the folks raised me, and I turned out fine ...