Running feet.

Region's children training for The Cross Country, learning endurance fitness and being outdoors with the wind and drizzle. No, for Hazel it is about shoes. When she was but a week or so old my mother told me "this is a baby who feels her feet" and stopped Hazel's mysterious and seemingly endless crying by adjusting her socks. She still feels her feet. When Hazel has a pair of shoes she's comfortable in she will wear them until the point when, if she was dragged away from home by fairy folk, she could find her way back by following the little shreds of shoe left behind. Running for the first twenty minutes of every school day speeds up this process.

Hazel and Sean went out and shopped for running shoes for five or so hours on Saturday, they went to half a dozen shoe shops, they got some dress shoes. On Sunday we rested. On Monday Hazel had Circus School in the afternoon. On Tuesday Hazel, Iris, and I went to Porirua and shopped for running shoes for over an hour, we got some tall winter boots (and three pairs of shoes for Iris). On Wednesday Hazel tried doing her cross country in the boots and after school Hazel, Iris and I went to Karori and shopped for running shoes for a couple of hours. Today she'll be able to look down at her new socks poking out the hole in the toe of her old sneakers as she runs.

She wants sneakers that don't need tieing and neither press in on, nor detectably move past, any part of her foot when she runs. I am considering silicon sealant on the bottom of her socks.

We throw ourselves into learning!

Hazel's doing Circus School and I hope her cart-wheels will keep their joie de vivre as they gain fearful symmetry. Iris has taken up Soccer and is really into it, I hope her infatuation will survive coaching and organised game time. I'm going to try FiddleCraft in which I'll learn to play my violin at the same time as some other learners, I hope I'll enjoy it so much I'll start practicing again.

In bed.

Iris slept with these last night:

• Soccer Ball: she has a new passion for soccer.
• Worry dolls: under the pillow, often asked to prevent bad dreams.
• Rabbit fur: gathered from garden before Chickpea's death, in transparent container.
• Bear: giant, brown and fluffy.
• Bear: medium, beige with velvet shirt inscribed "my first teddy", which it was.
• Good Puppy: a soft toy she's had since she was newborn, it used to be called Iris's Pink Dog "Teddy" and Hazel used to tuck it into her tiny hands before she could let go of anything and so she'd hit herself in the face with it in a confused way.
• Me, Sean, and a lot of my clothes (must tidy).