Best playground ever

This morning we got off to a rough start. The three of us were in the bedroom and Ogun and Sadia in the living room.  Selim woke up early and we kept him from going into the living room for over an hour.  He was so cranky and full of sass.  Then it hit me, he is leaving tomorrow and he tends to get his hackles up right before a change.  When I expressed that I was sad thinking about his leaving tomorrow instead of how tired I was at hearing him argue with me, he started to cry and then I followed.  He crawled into my lap and we hugged and cried.  After that, our day got better.

We ate breakfast, Turkish style, with the TV on the hurricane coverage on in the background.  It is hard to be away from home and be worried about the house and boat and be powerless to do anything about either.

We all walked out together and took some pictures.

Then Selim and I took the bus back to Kensington Gardens so that he could play in the Princess Diana Memorial Playground.  I think that has to be the best playground ever.  There are so many different areas, made for different age ranges.  We were there over two hours, may be close to three.  Selim made a friend, played on the ship, went into the tepees, rode the wooden sheep, and just had a great time.  At a few different times it felt like it was going to rain, but we never got more than a couple of drops.  If I had brought lunch, I think Selim could have stayed there all day.

But I dragged him (metaphorically) to the tube and onto Regent Street.  I wanted to see if I could get a little something at Liberty for Mom and Heather.  We weren't in there too long, but enough to know that I will be back without him.  I saw a few potential needlework canvasses that I would like.  Then we went to Hamleys to pick up a birthday present for Jacob, something for Joshua and a new toy for Selim to take on the plane (inshallah, hurricane permitting) tomorrow.  That toy store was too much for me.  Too many people, too many toys and too many workers demonstrating products.  We didn't linger.

After catching the tube up to Baker Street, we walked home, carrying our packages, pretty happy with the way the day turned out.  Now we are about to embark on the beginning packing stage.  I've still got some of the laundry in the dryer, but we should be able to start the piles and figure out will go in his carry on and what will get checked through.  Part of me is procrastinating because I don't want to say goodbye tomorrow.  As Selim says, "It's going to be tough."