On conferences, birthday parties, being tired and being three

DPCON12 (the Digital Parents blog conference) was yesterday. I will have much - so much - to say about it, and what I've gained from it, in a couple of posts to come. I want to let it settle for a few days first, though. I think I'll be able to write more coherently about it then. At the moment, I'm too tired and buzzy from the manic few weeks I've just had, full of work and unusually hefty kid-wrangling things and social busyness, culminating in the conference itself. I don't think I'm in the right headspace to do it justice.

As a placeholder, though, let me just say - I really, really enjoyed it. It was a thoughtful and engaging program, presented by absolutely first-class speakers / bloggers. I learned so much from them all, and was moved by many of them.

(Also, getting to finally meet in person some of my blog heroes and Twitter buddies, like Kelley, Mrs Woog, and Eden, was a bit of a fangirl thrill for me :-) So was meeting again with the people I've come to know offline a little at various times - Shae, Janelle, Karen, Nicole, Kate, Kate, Suzie ... the list goes on. All just wonderful people, who I haven't linked to because I'm tired and my wireless is playing me up. Soon, I promise!)

Then, after conference, life resumes.

I took my 3 year old, C, to a birthday party today. It was a Pooh Bear party - a Hunny Hunt - and it was completely wonderful. My friend B, the birthday girl's Mum, is such a warm, creative person, and it showed in the beautiful, simple but lovely party she put together. There was an Expotition to find Pooh's hunny - with a pin-the-tail-on-Eeyore, popping bubbles blown from giant wands on the front lawn, and singing Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush around the tree that held the hunny pot, full of party bags. B had made the most adorable little craft bees, and suspended them from the ceiling, and her husband read a Pooh Bear story to the kids. There was a honeypot shaped cake, and toilet-roll binoculars to use on the hunt.

And there was food for me to eat, four things I could safely consume and enjoy. As a Coeliac, I am always so grateful when friends think of me like this. It makes me feel welcomed and wanted, and I appreciate it so much.

On the lengthy drive home, C and I talked and listened to music. Out of nowhere, she suddenly said, "Mummy, you know, that was the firs' party that I did go to with no big girls!"

"Yes, I think you're right," I agreed, slightly surprised to realise it. "It was just for you, wasn't it?"

She smiled. "Just for me ... an' Mummy," she said.

Life is good.