Autumn past & present...

It that time of the year again, where everywhere you look you can see the trees are littered with multicoloured leaves & fall to the ground..Its my favourite season of the year purely of the colours, the nights drawing in so that I can light my candles & most of all go for woodland walks with my boys...

Today the whole family went to Vogrie - a local country park - for a walk through the woods as the boys were desperate to look for conkers! This year we were able to go through the forest path instead of the normal paths on the outside as we had fund raised for a Special Tomato Jogger for Roo and its perfect for country walks. It means Roo gets to experience a proper woodland walk alongside his brothers...We must have walked almost 5miles and in all that time he sat happily in his buggy, totally engrossed in his surroundings as it was so colourful. He found watching Pepper our dog running around crazy quite funny as every now and then he would let out a little giggle..I took several photos along the walk ..here are 2 of them...

Roo & his brothers...

Roo looking at the trees...

As I was uploading them on facebook I came across photos from exactly a year ago in the very same country park...

Looking at them made me realise how much he has changed and how little too....Last year he had just taken his first steps and was new to all this walking larky and we were all excited as we thought it would never happen....I remember saying to Warren that next year he would be able to walk in the woods with his brothers....but a year on he cannot...yes he can walk but his legs aren't strong and his balance is poor so its not safe at all for him to walk also he tires very easily, often refuses to walk so its easier and safer to keep him strapped into his buggy...He cannot do the things his brothers take for granted, his understanding is still limited, he isn't aware of the dangers so I cannot even take him out of his buggy at the pier that overhangs a lake to look at the water as he would have a meltdown as he just wants to go into the water, he would hate me holding him back so to save all the meltdowns I keep him in the buggy and let him have a quick look before carrying on walking...

But I'm not sad nor upset at this...I thought I would be but I'm not.... why? ... Simply because Roo is happy! That is my main concern.... during our woodland walk , he was all smiles, giggling away and babbling without a care in the world... he was enjoying the cool, fresh, wild air , enjoying looking at all the colours of the leaves on the trees, just simply enjoying the world around him. That was an important lesson for me...yes life is unfair that he has so much to deal with but at the end of the day he is happy - for as long as he is happy , I am happy too...