Monday, 29 September 2014

The Wonder of Darkness...

We have had a wonderful weekend celebrating Dave's birthday. Cinema trips and meals out... we have been spoilt rotten (thank you Tesco vouchers!) On Friday night we went to the cinema for the first time in literally years and saw "The Hundred Foot Journey"... we were the youngest in there by about twenty years, but it was an amazing film ... highly, highly recommend it!


On Saturday night we headed out to Zizzi's with the family and enjoyed a yummy meal (that ones another story!) and the girls enjoyed a bit of a late night! We headed off a little earlier than the others as it was WELL past bed time, and bundled the girls up in their coats before heading out into the cold.

We were not prepared for our littlest lady's reaction.

As we stepped outside, streetlights beamed down, candlelight from nearby tables flickered, and there was a buzz of chatter around us. But all of that was not enough for me to notice the little lady in my arms who went completely still as we exited and gasped through a whisper...

"DUNKEL..."

I looked at her, and was greeted by a look of total wide-eyed wonder and amazement. She was drinking it in, her little head turning to see, and just gazing, gazing, gazing at the sky - she was utterly mesmerized by the darkness.

And then it struck me... she probably doesn't ever remember being outside in the dark before. As far as this little lady is concerned, outside is always light!

After a long summer, a lot of which was spent in Norway, a 7am wake-up time, and a 7pm bedtime... I realised Heidi probably hadn't seen it dark outside since about February... at which point she was only 11 months old!

We drove home, she giggled in her seat the whole way back calling out "DUNKEL!" (dark!" around every 30 seconds, and just relishing the big black sky outside the window.


It was just one of those magic moments you want to box up and keep. One of those things that I take so much for granted, but for our youngest, was utterly magical.

The wonder of darkness.

mummy daddy me






20 comments:

  1. How lovely! It's the simple things that are often the most precious x

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  2. What a beautiful post. It really is lovely to be reminded of the things we take for granted.

    Glad you enjoyed the film. Await your post on Zizzi's as we didn't have a good experience with them.

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  3. Middle man was talking about the dark the other night - its easy to forget what we take for granted is special to them x

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  4. Awh you forget that a summer is literally a lifetime to them. Wait til she sees all the Christmas lights and stuff. She is so cute #magicmoments

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  5. I remember Jon's wonder at the stars but especially the moon...he is still fascinated by both 16 years on.

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  6. Glad you had a great weekend and how wonderful to read about Heidi discover the dark night and you as a mother had time to wonder with her, many parents rush with their children through life.

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  7. Ah this is wonderful Claire, and I love how she used the word 'Dunkel'! It's amazing what we take for granted isn't it? Lovely photo too :) x

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  8. How funny and how wonderful too! It's one of those things that is so ingrained in us as adults that we forget that we had to learn about dark and light at one stage - and how lovely for Heidi that she was exactly the right age to be surprised by dark and all the twinkly lights, it must have seemed utterly magical to her!

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  9. Aww that's lovely, we were out the back garden other night as it's getting really dark so early up here, Dominic was memorised by it too! Was really funny to see him experiencing it now he is older. X

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  10. Thats SO cute, and lovely you've captured the moment so well too :) We love Zizzi, Hmm I must go again soon :)

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  11. Gorgeous photos. So true, it must be strange for children that age to experience the darker evenings after being used to the lighter ones. They always seem fascinated by the dark and being out in the dark.

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  12. Ah Claire what a beautiful post, it made me feel really emotional. It's true, that its sometimes the most simple of things that are truly the most precious. So sweet. x

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  13. Hello there, that's brilliant-we took little man out the other evening and he was fascinated by the night sky, it's just lovely x #magicmoments

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  14. Thats so adorable. I can already imagine how amazing dark must be to her! #magicmoments

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  15. That is just lovely - it's funny the things that just don't occur to you until your child points it out to you! This is such a magical moment x

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  16. aww bless her! i love seeing those moments with my children where its just pure wonder!

    thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments

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  17. Ahhh bless that's the sweetest thing ever. I love it and so amazing you captured the moment and what a beautiful moment, a magical moment too. I hope to see you again tomorrow for another great round of #sharewithme

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