The Thin (Parenting) Line

It's such a fine line we tread between adoring our kids and devoting ourselves to making them happy...

...and not turning them into Spoilt Brats.

This one, I fear, crosses that line.

Little Miss' morning programme is coming to an end, so I say to her:
"Would you like to come shopping with me?"
(Daddy is at home, so I'm excited at the chance for some Mummy-Daughter time.)
"Which shop?" she says
"The green one," I reply. "You know, the one nearest to us, in town."
"What are you buying?" she says
"Some bits for lunch."
"Are you buying anything for me?"
"Um, no, not this time poppet."
Silence
"So are you coming with me?"
"No." she says, and turns back to her programme.

Peas

We're eating tea together, Little Miss, The Duke and I. We're having peas and rice.

"Here you go Mummy," says Little Miss, carefully placing a pea on my plate.
"Oh, thank you!" I say.
Then she puts another one on my plate. And another.
"Hang on a minute," I say. "I thought you liked peas?"
"I do." she says.
"So why are you giving them to me?" I ask
"Because I love you," she states.
I'm shocked into silence (declarations of love are few and far between with Little Miss)
"I love you Mummy, so you can have aaaaallllll my peas..."

And that's just about the best thing I've EVER heard.

Educating Duke

I'm getting quite interested in all this talk on the news about educating boys, and how they learn differently to girls.

I'm interested because I'm trying to teach The Duke a few things.

I've stuck a poster up on a wall with some farm animals on. And every morning, we go through it:

"This is a Sheep" I say
"'eeep" he says, enthusiastically
"And this is a duck," I say
"'uck" he repeats
"And this is a dog"
"'og," he says, and I think Wow, he's really getting it!
"And this is a Cow"
"Ka-ow" he says.

So then I go,

What's this Duke?
"Ka-ow," he says
"No, it's a Sheep"
"'eep," he says, as if that's what he meant to say all along..
"And what's this?"
"Ka-ow!" he says
Um, no, it's a duck"
"'uck!" he says
And what's this?
"Ka-ow"
No, Duke, it's a dog"
"'og!"

And he just loves our little game.

Which is just as well, since I've been doing the same thing for several days now.

And then, Eureka! He gets it right. Well, he got the sheep right... and the duck.

So the next morning, we look at the poster and try and show off our new-found knowledge to Daddy!

"What's this Duke?" I say, pointing to the sheep
"Ka-ow!" he says, all excited..
"Um, no, it's a sheep.
"'eep!"
"Never mind, let's try again. What's this?"
"Ka-ow!"
"Nooooo, it's a duck"
"'uck!"
"Ok, let's try One Last Time, and show Daddy how clever you are!
What's this?" I say, pointing to the sheep again."
He looks at the picture
He looks at me
He looks at the picture
He smiles
.
.
.
.
"Ka-ow!"

It was an Accident, Mummy

At mealtimes it's always a job to get the kids to stop trying to play with things and just eat their darn breakfast/lunch/tea...
With the Duke it's fairly easy, put the offending toy out of sight and it will be out of mind.
Little Miss is a smart kid though, so when I put the toy radio on the floor so that Duke wouldn't see it, it miraculously reappears on the dining table.
I spot it, Little Miss spots that I spotted it and says:
"Mummy, I put it there by accident."
"By accident?" I say
"Yes," she says, quite firmly
"You picked it up off the floor," I suggest
"Yes Mummy," she replies
"And put it on the table," I continue
"Yes" she says
"Right next to you,"
"Yes," she replies, beginning to get bored of Mummy stating the obvious
"And all by accident?"
"Yes, Mummy," she repeats, and looks at me like I'm the one with the problem

Cheese, Anyone?

I've never been able to get The Duke interested in cheese, and, having tried all the usual suspects: Cheddar, Red Leicester, Edam, gave up. So imagine my surprise when he tucked into a slice of gruyère with relish.

Clearly, it wasn't that he didn't like cheese, he's just a cheese SNOB.

That's the End of That Then

We have a routine, Little Miss and I, that I love. When it comes to the lunchtime nap, we put The Duke to bed and then snuggle up together in her bed until she falls asleep too. We've been doing it for months now and I relish every minute of it (and it's not unheard of for me to nod off too...) because I know that at some point, her naps will drop off and, well, that'll be the end of that.

But I didn't expect to be dumped.

Two days ago she said: "I don't want you to lie in the bed with me, Mummy."
"Oh! I said..."
"You can stand here," she says, pointing to the side of the bed near her head.
"Stand here?"
"Yeah."
"I don't want to stand here!"
So I slunk off.
And she slept.

The next day she said: "I don't want a snuggle, Mummy."
"Oh," I said. And I trudged downstairs.

Today she announced: "Mummy, I'm putting myself to bed."
And she did. And I went downstairs. Again.

Only this time I felt a chunk of her childhood fall away...and a chunk of grief settled itself in my heart.

I liked it Mummy

This is Little Miss's inimitable way of telling me she has enjoyed her meal:

Halfway through lunch she'll say
"Mummy"
"Yes?"
"When we go to sleep"
"Yes"
"And then we get up"
"Ye-es"
"And then we have breakfast"
"Ye-es"
"And then it's time for lunch"
"Ye-es"
"Then, Mummy"
"Ye-es"
"Then, you can make this again."
"So you like your lunch, then?"
"Yes Mummy, I like it."

The Perfect Coffee Shop

Just came across coffee shop with a small enclosed play area whilst out shopping with the kids. The experience went something like this:

Mummy: Sitting down
Coffee: Hot.
Drank: ALL of it.
Coffee: Whilst still HOT.
Kids: Playing.
Owner of the coffee shop: Genius.