Skip to main content

It's oh so quiet...


 
It's oh so quiet without Abi in the house, and we are missing her! Yesterday I set off to Salisbury with my little baby - all ready to embark on her first properly independent trip without us and it felt far too soon for this. Izzy was at a sleepover with Aran which meant Abi and I had some lovely time to ourselves before she went. We had a long chat about how she was feeling - apprehensive but excited as you might imagine. She had butterflies in her tummy but was also looking forward to a whole week of horses and all things horse like. We talked about Imposter Syndrome - she was amazed that the rest of us aren't ultra confident all the time - I wish! As we got closer to Angie's Abi turned to me and said "You're not going to be weird Mummy are you?!" As if! As it was despite the nerves as soon as we arrived she was out the car like a bullet and straight into Merlin's stable to start grooming him. It was as though she had been there only 5 minutes ago. We agreed that it would be best not to ring yesterday evening (for her not me) and so the first time I spoke to her was this evening when I got home from work. She came to the phone very clearly smiling from ear to ear, full of what she'd been up to. The weather hasn't been brilliant so they didn't ride today and when I asked whether that was a problem she said "Of course not, we've been too busy!". I'm sure I'm paying for her to be a slave for the week!

I do appreciate that this will be a brilliant experience for her. One of my jobs as a parent to help her stretch her boundaries and give her the confidence to believe she can do new things. I would hate to have her clinging to me, unable to face the world, so this is a great way of helping her build not only new skills and confidence, but also a network of people which she may maintain for life. She will always be my baby though and I will freely admit the house feels less whole without her.

On the other hand, Izzy is loving having lots of time with us and (in between the tears of "I miss Abi!") she has been making the most of it. This evening I took her up to bed and I will admit it was very relaxing to lie on her bed with her chatting and not feeling the pressure to split my time between the two of them (they measure exactly how long I've spent in the other's room and then complain about favouritism...). While I miss Abi, it's nice for Izzy not to be competing - I think it will help her to be a bit more grown up - she's inevitably the baby as the youngest in the house - and a bit more individual. She's also milking it with friends - she has a number of sleepovers lined up, play dates and trips out with Daddy while I'm at work - she could get used to this!




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...

More frustrations!

An old one to remind myself how cute they were! Sunday evening, back to school after half term and the normal shouting match ensues as we ask where all Abi's kit is and she shrugs and says "it's not my fault..." There are a number of aspects that drive us nuts here - first that her immediate response is denial and abdication of all responsibility, the second that she genuinely doesn't care and the third that it still doesn't help is with where her (mostly new) sports kit is! While this is going on we have Izzy sorting her kit out while weeping quietly because she has decided (18 months after we said goodbye to him) that she misses Scooby! We decided it was just easier to suggest everyone gets an early night and packed them off to their rooms - there really isn't an answer for some of this I think! This week has been a mix of school testing - the kids went of to St Gabriel's for their tests on Wednesday, Abi riding, Izzy doing her gym practice and...

Lockdown - month 3

Bertie hoping to be allowed to move into Abi's shed As we pass the mark of 2 months in lockdown it has become all very normal - in fact as I walked Bertie yesterday I was resentful of the cars whizzing past me when it's been so peaceful for so long. We have now moved from 'Stay at Home' to 'Stay Alert' (England anyway, the wee Krankie up North refuses to do anything remotely aligned to the rest of the UK on principal). Apparently the majority of the country finds the new message very confusing - " what does it mean?" they ask themselves. This is what the media would have us believe anyway, because what else is there to do in lockdown but shit stir and create confusion when there is no need. We have definitely now  moved past the point of being in this together and gone back to the normal blame game. So much for solidarity. Friday also marked the end of the first half of term, although half term has never felt so much like school, or more accurate...