Half way through our holiday week and we decided to have a nice chilled day today. No triathlons, no drama, just kicking back and putting out feet up. Sadly the kids didn’t appear to get the memo, especially M who joined us in bed about 10 minutes after we went to bed last night. Our bed just must be so much more comfortable! I’ve just been informed that I’m being sent to sleep with E tonight so Steph and M can have more room in our bed – tune in tomorrow to find out what time E jumps on me in the morning!
The weather just about held out for most of the day but we did have to stay indoors later on when the rain arrived. More about that in a bit.
Anyway, even quiet days are eventful when it comes to my family so let’s get cracking with the top 5:
1. We start tonight with breakfast. For many an important meal, but for most (especially midweek) simply a necessity which gets ticked off first thing. It’s a bit more of a challenge with my family as we seem inevitably to end up with 4 different meals and the kids continue to demand at least 3 courses. They don’t know they’re born! So this morning M had finished his waffles, then his fruit, then his bagel whilst E was taking her time with her first bagel. She suddenly yelped with pain holding her finger. She proceeded to tell us that “the bagel hurt my finger” and despite a whole series of questions I still haven’t the foggiest idea how that holy ring of bready goodness could inflict injury on a small child. I guess we’ll never know, but be careful out there boys and girls – the bagels may be rising up against us! 🥯
2. We headed out all together for a lovely riverside walk. They was only minor drama as E tried to socially distance from every stinging nettle she could see whilst M decided to sit in the mud after trying to walk into the river from the little rocky beach we found. But we battled on and it was really quite pleasant. We then climbed up the steps and to the top of a field which was a bit of a trek so had a little seat to catch our breath and take in the view. At that point M started to head back down the field the way we had come without a backward glance. Now, as all parents will know, there comes a point when your child heads in the wrong direction where the realisation sinks in that they’re not going to stop. Sadly for me this was quite far on during his bid for freedom and I suddenly found myself sprinting down a slippery field trying to catch my 2 year old who by now had broken into a run himself. I caught him just at the top of the steps leading down to the river and you just know he would’ve gone down there given half a chance. Clearly there’s no reasoning with him so he seemed to just find the whole thing quite hilarious, as did Mammy and Grandma who helpfully took a photo of me running, which was the sum total of their contribution to the episode! 😤
3. E really wanted to bake today. So Daddy was sent to the shops with a shopping list and then rolled up his sleeves upon his return to tackle red velvet cupcakes for the first time. Now the perfect image of baking with your kids is very different from the reality in my experience. They lose interest very early on and even if you coax them back with promises of spoon/ beater/ bowl licking duties it is short lived. To be fair E did some beating and also added the egg (by smashing it against the edge of the bowl so hard it disintegrated into the mixture and I had to try and fish out the biggest bits of shell) so she ran around the kitchen shouting that she “did it” and “added the egg all by herself!” I suppose I can’t argue with either of those statements which are both technically true. The kids then disappeared off to help Grandma do some pruning so it left me to finish off, including creating an icing sugar explosion which coated the entire kitchen in a fine layer of icing sugar. It’s always better to bake in someone else’s house! Anyway, the cakes actually turned out not bad and have been wolfed down and apparently Emma wants to do scones tomorrow. I’ll get my apron back on… 🧁
4. With the rain coming down and the cupcakes cooling on the rack, there was only one thing the kids wanted to do before tea – introduce Grandma to Frozen 2. They sat transfixed and as usual belted our their favourite songs from the soundtrack whilst Grandma tried to keep up with the storyline. I had to catch myself a couple of times as I was merrily explaining everything to her and I realised I was coming across as having an unhealthily detailed knowledge of this particular movie. Unfortunately I didn’t catch myself in time when I uttered “ahhh, this is definitely my favourite one” just as the opening bars of Lost in the Woods played. I’m hoping she puts it down to my excellent parenting skills (you know, developing an understanding of what your kids are into so you can related better) rather than anything else!! ⛄️
5. E came down to use the toilet this evening as the adults were having their tea. She was taking ages so I headed through to make sure she was okay. Before I knew it I found myself perched on the edge of the bath having a very detailed conversation with her about her bowel movements and how she talks to all of the objects in the bathroom so she doesn’t get lonely when having a poo. She paused for breath at this point and so I asked if I could go back to finish my tea. She stared at me incredulously and said “It’s all right Daddy. I’m sure it was an accident so I’ll forgive you. But you know it’s rude to interrupt and I hadn’t finished talking so you can just sit right there until I have. And I won’t give you into trouble because I did stop to breathe so you might have thought I’d finished but I hadn’t.” I mean who does she think she is?!? I politely reminded her that my tea was getting cold and she could very easily finish her toilet trip without me so I bade her farewell, but not before handing her back the piece of toilet roll she had given me to hold when I first walked in, just so it was ready for later on! 💩
LawyerLow Diaries 