The bathroom door opens as I brush my teeth this evening. Jude walks in and smiles "You a good girl Mummy! You had your shower?!"
"Yes I did."
"Oh good girl. You put Dora on now?" He puts his hand out and reaches for mine.
I feel used. And slightly amused.
PS. Dan came home from work late tonight and went to kiss the sleeping babes goodnight. In the dark, a little boy voice said "Oh it's you, Daddy!". Love him.
Hubby went to the bathroom this morning. Son (age 3) wandered into our bedroom and climbed onto the bed. "I want to sleep on this side", pointing at his daddy's vacant side of the bed.
As he burrows under the duvet, I asked him if he was going to be Daddy for a few minutes. He nodded and then exclaims with a gruff little voice "Where's my phone?"
I love his humour.
Sometimes the children play games on my phone. And that's okay with me as long as the phone is on flight mode (past experience taught me that! "NOOOO! Not the Pay button!!!!!"). I only have 3 games on my phone and a colouring app.
The games I have:
1. 'Tap the Frog' - great fun, good for hand/eye coordination.
2. 'Fish farts' - it has a "gas" concept (goofy pun, sorry. The Irish meaning of the word GAS is "hilarious/funny"), good for hand/eye coordination, makes certain noises as you catch the fish...
3. 'Cut the Rope' - this is a bit more advanced. The better you do, the more challenges you unlock. My almost 3 year old loves this game. This is more about planning and completing tasks, good game for adults and children.
The games are good but hard for two to share, they can't really share the screen at the same time, they often try and end up having screaming matches instead... So last night before bed, little miss T and I taught little master J how to play noughts and crosses (or X's & O's, as some prefer to call it) on the colouring app. They both loved it. For the most part.
One little person is such a sore loser and sulks in their bedroom whenever they lose. The other little one does what we suggest, in saying "Well done!" to the winner, giving a high five and seems really happy about it, doesn't mind losing. This realllllllly winds up the sulky little person. We have the same conversations each time - even reminding them not to gloat/boast when winning while they gloat! The same conversations. Sigh.
Hopefully they'll figure it out soon. Still, it amuses me how different they are!
Pink chalk and blue cheese.
Away from home tonight (short story = 2 weeks of no car, back to work tomorrow, Mum to the rescue), I opened my washbag and look who stowed away! (See attached photo) Always a parent, even when child free for an evening. It's like when I go to work and find a pack of babywipes in my handbag or a spare nappy in my jacket pocket...
Staying overnight at Château Grandad. I love spending time with him before bedtime. We chatted about all sorts, including pets and penpals, then I sorted out his freesat channels and we watched a gorgeous documentary about sea life before saying goodnight. And after retiring to the spare room, I sit in bed, the room reminds me of Grandma and I love it. No sadness, just hopefulness for the future and fondness of the past. Grateful for family ❤
- Is. 33:24; Ps. 46:1 -
Saw a lovely photo today, of a friend and her sister when they were little. I remember them at that age, for I was as little as they were at the time.
Triggered some fond memories of their parents, in particular, their late mum. She is one of those parents who inspired me to listen to my inner voice. The one that says 'stop for a minute, stop what you're doing and cherish this moment with your young child because this time and moment, this innocent age, won't last forever'. Soon I'll be like my parents, watching my little one have her own family, a new generation, making her own scones and mistakes.
My eldest just turned 6 a couple of weeks ago. I gasped more when she turned 5 and started primary school. But this time, I accepted the upgrade without a flutter or a gush. Surprisingly. I leaned over the side of her bed, tucked her in and said 'Goodnight my little 5 year old' and she replied 'and I'm going to wake up 6!', thrilled with herself, content in blind knowledge. I love her naïve bones.
I recall my friend's mum being a sweet natured, creative soul. Humble and kind, from what I encountered while in their family's presence. I loved sitting with them for breakfast, following their daily routine in their beautiful, quirky home. And yet I'm reminded that she's sadly missed now. My friend and her sister are children without their mum, cancer being an unnatural thorn. Imperfection and illness - they don't sit well with me. Can't imagine they sit well with any of us really. So with that in mind, I turn to my favourite lyrics, accompanied by the sound of hope and I wish to grasp on to it. Because without it, things just don't make sense.
"Now, see yourself and see me too - and look ahead to a world that is new"
My little girl asks for a playdate or an ice lolly from the shop or to play one of those games we keep high up on the shelf away from sticky, destructive fingers (baby brother), but quite honestly, she very rarely asks for something that makes my blood pressure sky rocket.
She finishes her first year of primary school soon and I wanted to do something sweet and special, just for her. I asked her who she'd like to invite to her very own little party at home, and she decided on 2 friends in her class. So I decided it was a cupcake theme (she loves cupcakes). We set about making the invitations yesterday, and finished them within the hour. I'm all for recycling and being creative, but I'm also quite tired after a lovely weekend and a sad family bereavement, so I searched Pinterest.com for some inspiration. I saw some very cute cupcake invitations and thought, I could tweak those to suit our preferences (thank you to whoever originally made those invites, they're lovely!). My daughter loves hearts almost as much as I do, so she decided the cherries would be hearts, and her invitations would have hearts on them elsewhere.
I couldn't find coloured card (they're stuffed in an inaccessible box in the spare room...) so we used a cereal box, cut it into long rectangles, covered it with paper (folded white A4 paper around so it covered the coloured/picture side of the cereal box card so you couldn't see it peeping through), then glued the paper on to it with Pritt stick. We cut the coloured paper into the shape of cupcake topping, glued it to the covered cardboard, added the heart-shaped cherry and then cut the cupcake case into shape after the glue had dried. She helped with the wording and some of the writing, I added the finishing touches including a balloon in each envelope. Little Miss T had plenty of suggestions (she's a chip off the ole block!) and here's the result ♥
An afternoon well spent together, mummy & daughter bonding project complete :)
