Skip to main content

Sloppy parenting


No pressure, but it's our weekend for the year 1 cat 'Mowser'... again.  I know for many of the parents this is the perfect chance to show just how fun filled and exciting your child's weekend can be.  Given each child gets the cat a couple of times through the year along with the Mowser Book of One-Upmanship, having done Abi last year and Izzy this year, I've run out of original ideas and enthusiasm.  The first time we had him we went to the beach, took Mowser kite surfing (queue pictures of cat strapped to a kite about 50 feet in the air), took him for ice-creams and all sorts of other fun filled activities.  We carefully planned what Abi would write in the book, printed the photo's out and lovingly stuck them in.  By this (our 4th time of hosting Mowser), we just got on with a normal weekend, managed to take only one photo and then printed it out at the last moment while I urged to Izzy "just write something and make it legible".  More examples of sloppy parenting but such is life.  Thank goodness we don't have any more children coming up through the school!

This weekend we braved the flood waters and headed to Taunton for a couple of days.  Glenn pleaded rugby and a bad shoulder (he has torn his ligaments falling off his mountain bike - boys!), so it was just me and the girls.  Given the weather - more torrential rain - we were trying to find something for all of them to do on Saturday but quickly realised it was us we were trying to amuse rather than them.  Wonderfully they are still inseparable when together and immediately they meet up are happy just to be in each others company.  It has changed - they used to roar around and make as much noise as possible - now they alternate between playing together (horses, families, snooker) and just chilling out together.  How lovely it is that despite not seeing each other every week they can be so close.   We will have to start making some changes I guess; last night we were having dinner together and so Ben and Laurie were going to bed at Mum and Dad's before being woken up for the quick drive home.  After lots of discussion they decided that Abi and Laurie would start the night off in one bed and Ben and Izzy in another.  Izzy was very specific - she was only prepared to get into bed with someone who will sleep in "pitch black, door closed!" so luckily Ben was OK with this.  I did have a moment of wondering whether they are getting too old for sleeping in the same bed but decided it should be OK for a while yet. I had to smile when I went up to check on them.  I could hear Abi asking Laurie "Do you snore?", while Izzy was getting Ben to read her "just one more story" before the light went off.  Lovely although I'm not so sure about the comment in the Mowser book - "we saw our cousins and I slept with Ben"...!  When we got home the girls immediately asked if they could go round to see our next door neighbours who have 4 year old twins, Oliver and Isabelle.  So off they went at 2pm and we didn't  really see them again until 5pm - peace!

While all this is going on I'm still on tenterhooks waiting to hear about the job I've been interviewing for.  It's been 2 weeks since the last interview and 10 days since the CFO was "definitely going to ring me tomorrow".  I do feel like the last 9 months have been all about being patient.  First for the house, then for the move, then for the job re-organisation, then the redundancy process and now the job.  I want to know I've secured a new role for lots of reasons, but not least it will mean Abi can develop a new introduction for me... her current one goes along the lines of "This is my Mummy.  She's 40 and has lost her job."  Not much you can say to that is there?!? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cough, cough

Izzy - can't do a photo without rude finger gestures It's fair to say that the last couple of weeks have been rough. I managed to get the cough Mum had a while back and it has been horrible! Both Dad and Glenn seemed to get a very mild version of it but Mum and I got the full dose and I can safely say that it has been a stark reminder of just how bad a viral infection can be. It also illustrates the whole Covid experience - some get it worse than others. For me it has meant that for over 2 weeks I have had the worst cough which has left me unable to sleep properly. I still can't sleep lying down fully, and have to be propped up on pillows on my back which is not my favoured sleeping position! It has also meant that Glenn has spent the last 10 days in the spare room because I have been coughing so badly he is unable to sleep in the same room. Thank goodness we didn't all have it - we'd have shaken the house to its foundations! It has also meant that I have been exhau
Post a Comment
Read more

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas...

I was sure I write the blog last week.... but, it seems another 2 weeks have flown by and now we are staring down the barrel of the Christmas holidays and the end of the year! Currently it's all about Doug and what a star he has proved to be so far. He has now been with us for 3 weeks and he is (so far, I keep thinking at some point it will change) a pretty chilled out puppy. As a second dog he has been thrown in at the deep end and has been to Sunday lunch with Alan & Sarah (which he loved), socialised at home with friends and their dogs, met babies (he loved Elsie) and started to go for walks. The walking has been a bit different to our previous approaches with new dogs. In the past we have ventured out carefully, making sure that our new baby only walks a short distance so they can experience all the new sights and sounds. Doug's first walk was after Sunday lunch last week, just him and 8 other dogs for bout 45 mins - he loved it! In our defence we didn't let him wal
Post a Comment
Read more

March!

Betty kisses! Blink and 3 weeks have sped by - just like that! The good news is that it's a) beginning to feel like Spring (well, some of the time), and b) that means we are nearly through year end at work which is a blessed relief - that last couple of weeks have been pretty intense.  Although it's been busy, we have a good few weeks, including a lovely weekend where Glenn and I managed to get away on our own for the first time in 2 years - amazing! We only went to a cottage in Devon for 2 nights but the cottage was really nicely arranged and we settled in very quickly. We did have to adjust a bit t the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere - us and sheep - but Glenn had Wi-Fi and the rugby and I had plenty of time to walk so we were both happy. Kerrie and Elsie came and stayed with the kids so they had a great time also, with lots of time to realise that a young baby might look like fun but it's a lot of hard work! Betty and Doug went to Mum and Dad's. They surviv
Post a Comment
Read more