Skip to main content

Teenager alert!

Boris & Bean, the fat boys!
Last week before Abi turns 13 - eek, teenage daughter alert! This may be a major milestone, however I can't see that it's going to change much. Yesterday she and her friends were planning a get together in town for today and all we were asked to do was drop them off at the same time and then be back 2 hours later to pick them up. In between times no parents were required to hang around and so I went home and ran my normal 10 mile Sunday run - perfect time management! It does make for an easier weekend when this happens. I am conscious that we have our own things we want to do and I do feel very relieved that we haven't ended up with kids that do a host of clubs and practices from Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon. Izzy is trying to sort out a sleep over with her friend and between Stagecoach and a play rehearsal she's hardly free to do anything non-scripted. There's probably a happy balance between this and lazing around watching You Tube but lets face it, I'm OK with a little bit of mindless TV surfing if it means we all get to do something of what we want at the weekend.

Another good reason for not racing around this weekend is that Izzy is full of cold. She's been coughing a spluttering for most of the week and although it's shifting it has been pretty grim, not helped by the fact that she is the only one in the family that has it so limited sympathy. For her the extra pain is that a cold often brings out her mouth ulcers (still suffers horribly from time to time), and then on top of that blowing her nose meant her lips got chapped and cracked. For anybody else this would make it almost impossible to open your mouth, but my little chatterbox wouldn't let that combination stop her and she's managed to keep talking regardless!

 As if Abi knows she's moving closer to adulthood, she woke up this week, stretched and said "I wish I could wear a baby grow again!" Apparently she remembers the feeling of stretching and feeling the tightness over her feet. She'd also like, she informed me, to cry and have us pay more attention than we do now. Apparently the silent tears of a pre-teen aren't anywhere near as arresting as the howls of a  baby and so we just don't come running quickly enough. Hmmmm - I wonder why! I think for the moment we will celebrate the silent tears and hope for equally silent teenage tantrums!

We are sitting here watching Gogglebox in front of the fire with Bertie at our feet. I say we, obviously Glenn has disappeared into the garage because he never agrees with our TV choices! Googlebox is something that has passed me by until now - why on earth would we want to watch people watching TV??? In fact it's incredibly funny and (apart from the copious swearing and sometimes slightly inappropriate content) it's great fun to watch together. That said this one is the Stand Up to Cancer episode and it's had us all in tears, not least as we've just lost a friend to cancer and so it's all a bit close to home right now. Abi in particular has been very conscious of what it means for her friend who is the same age as her and now coming to terms with a life without her Mum. A horrible thought for both of us. It has definitely made me appreciate the little things - being able to sit with them both and just laugh, walks, cuddles, the little moments. Life can be cruel and you have to make the most of what you have.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome Albert James!

So this week has been full of new things - Jess and Chris have welcomed Albert James Wilkinson Rayner to the family, a tad early but all doing well apparently (and so cute!!), I started my new job, Abi has her new shed and Dad got sorted on a phone that wasn't invented before the kids were born!! I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into  the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. ...

Diary management!

This part of the summer is definitely typified by me trying to remember who is supposed to be where and when. Abi likes to be off doing something with someone while Izzy is happier to know she's close to home and so for the last week they've gone their separate ways. Abi has been down in Somerset making the most of Ben and Laurie being about. From what I can tell she's having a lovely time. Apart from the covert phone call one evening to tell me she was 'starving'  (Mum was cooking for the hordes and so it had been delayed), I've barely heard from her. The few calls I have had have very quickly ended in "can I go now" like I'm making her speak to me! Today she switches from Mum and Dads to a night or two with Kerrie - not sure who is more excited! Izzy didn't want to be away for that long so she opted not to go. She's very conscious that Abi and Laurie are joined at the hip when together and Ben has his own things he wants to do so she ...

All about Izzy

This weekend has mainly been about Izzy, mostly because Abi has been off riding again and so we've hardly seen her. This has its pros and cons - on the one hand Izzy gets lots of attention and the choice of what to do. On the other she misses Abi and when big sister arrives home we have the inevitable few hours of resettling which seems to involve tears as a matter of course. I did have a moment of despair this evening when I looked across to the table just before Sunday dinner - normally a happy time - to see both of them, heads on arms, holding back tears. Luckily a bit of food and a game of 20 questions to share what everybody had enjoyed about their weekend and we kind of managed to get back on track by dessert. When asked what she wanted to do, Izzy immediately shouted "Jo Jo" so my task was to sort out a visit with Jo, the boys and Ellie. No matter how much time passes they still love to see each other and the first task is always the same. Edward and Izzy have t...