Lavender bubbly water

 

Sonny's joie de vivre has been dampened slightly today.  He is struggling with a stuffy nose and chesty cough, poor mite, and not been up to playing properly all day. 

With him in mind, 45 minutes before bath time, I got out the play tray and filled it with warm water and lavender shampoo, then invited the children to wash Sonny's trains.

At first fully clothed, they were tentative...

 

But the clothes didn't last for long! 

And then the fun really began!

The bridge became a "car wash for trains", the perimeter of the tray became an excellent track. 

There were races and bumps and lots of talk between the engines about coupling and falling into the muddy marshes and crashing into the bushes. 

There was singing!  Lots of singing. 

"Ring a ring a posies!" sang Sonny.

Jasmine taught him how to sing Hey Diddle Diddle and Baa Baa Black Sheep.

She also organised some engines into size order before counting them, with Sonny's help.

 

 

We had lots of lovely, calm, lavender-scented water play before bath and bedtime. 

Jasmine and Sonny went to sleep as soon as they got to bed!

I don't think I will be too far behind them tonight.