*this seires of ‘a day in the life posts’ are dedicated to my last boss. When I told him of my decision not to return to work after my maternity leave, he simply replied “….so, what will you do all day??….”
My 4 year old son, Buster, has woken several times during the night (as he often does) calling for me, or screaming. Each time I calm him down and sooth him back to sleep.
At sometime around 6am, somewhere in my dreams, I hear “Mummy… I NEEEED you” instinctively, my eyes reluctantly half open and I stumble into Buster’s room and take him into my bed for a delicious baby boy cuddle (I know he’s four, but don’t tell anyone, he’s still my baby boy). Buster is very affectionate and I know he enjoys his mummy kisses and cuddles too! It’s also a chance to close my tired eyes again and to convince myself, slowly this time, to let go of that blissful sleep and wake up.
One by one the girls come into the bed for cuddles as well and we are soon joined by Sporty the cat. We cuddle talk, tease, tickle, giggle and scratch sporty under his chin. These are the moments that I just love, when we are all together. These moments make everything else worth while and they are the moments I hope my kids remember. But, the moment is over too soon. The kids get restless and GrummpyDaddy gets squished out of bed and hobbles off to make the coffee muttering something like “…wishing children …sleep…not fair…too early….”. I. Need. My. Coffee….It’s a loosing battle to stay in bed to enjoy it though. The kids start to wrestle and jump on the bed, the doona goes flying, It’s time for Sporty and I to make our hasty retreat!
I attempt to get a response from the kids to the question “..what do you want for breakfast…?” But they are running around the house playing a make-believe Ben10 game, at least I think it will be once they sort out who gets to be Gwen, Ben and the evil alien. So, whilst stubbornly ignoring the 10th Whining utterance of’ “muuuummmm, she said.….”, lunches are made and packed for school and work. GrumpyDaddy is English and loyally follows his families tradition of a hearty breakfast. Eggs are boiled, poached, or scrambled and baked beans warmed in the microwave. You can smell the heavenly aroma of toast and more coffee. We then attempt to convince the kids to come to the table and eat breakfast. Buster of course refuses to eat anything and despite all the food on the table, keeps repeating with increasing urgency “…some-ning eat mummy…’
With breakfast half-eaten they are off and running, doing head-stands on the couch. I manage to wrangle the girls into their school uniforms and practically have to force them to wear jumpers if it’s cold and rainy outside. I brush their hair amidst cries of “….OWWW…MUUUM….OWWWW…” The girls employ the tried and true tactic of ‘passive resistance’ during this entire process. Meanwhile, Buster shouts at me to get my attention and repeatly insists that I play with him, or find a lost toy he desperately NEEDS….NOW!! One of the girls will undoubtedly ‘suddenly’ remember something urgent that needs to be taken or done for school….It is all and all out chaos!!! I wage an internal battle with myself not to loose my temper and I repeat to myself ‘stay calm, they will be gone in a few minutes’ (sometimes this doesn’t work and I loose it….the kids look at me as if I have gone completely mad, and then go back to ignoring me anyway….and I end up feeling guilty for the rest of the day). Finally, their shoes are tied and they are ready. Muscles gives me a kiss and a cuddle goodbye. I then have to chase Flash around the house for the same privilege (Even though she doesn’t admit it, I know that she really does like a kiss goodbye…but she puts up a fight!)
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