When people tell me that the much fabled urban myth, aka the
lie-on, will come my way again, I get all excited. When will it?
When will the 5am wake-ups end?
I’m told when they’re teenagers.
Fek that. That’s too far ahead
for me. But this week I got a brief glimpse
of it. There were two mornings where 8am
loomed and the school goer was still comatose under his duvet cocoon. And why wouldn’t he be; in his nicely dimmed
and cool bedroom? The first morning we
had to make the journey to the school gates ourselves. The second, we caught the bus by the skin of
our teeth. The gloriously long summer
evenings were taking their toll. I know in my heart of hearts that the weekend
mornings will not pan out like this. I
also suspect growth spurts played their part in the burn outs. Never ones for big meals, the Screecher
Creatures prefer to graze, but this week they took it to a whole different
level. There were endless demands for
Rice Krispies, batch bread with jam, cheese strings, toasted ham and cheese
sandwiches, yogurts, (they ate more than 20 this week!) croissants, and
pancakes. Suits me. I’d rather provide unlimited small meals that
require no cooking than slave over an oven when the weather is this
perfect. Isn’t it great? And the smell of sun block! It’s a quint essential summer component. The Screechers get a kick out of making
“zombie arms” while I rub on the cream.
They don’t know themselves in the morning when all they have to put on
is a t-shirt and shorts. Screecher
Creature No. 4 is finally without those long sleeved vests and is free to crawl
around in the dirt outside the back door.
It means a bath or a shower every night now as dust and dirt sticks to
the sunblock and they end up with dirty sweaty streaks on their faces. A sure sign they’re having fun. Today I inflated a girly pink,
disappointingly small paddling pool and tipped in a couple of saucepans of
water. I left it on the decking for them
to do what they wished with it. It
really was ridiculously small but it served as a splashing area for Screecher
Creature No. 4. The warm weather is great, although driving a
car with broken windows is no fun. The
passenger windows can be manually wound down but Screecher Creature No. 3
dislikes his Bridget Jones “do” as a result of the incoming breeze. There is a
tiny downside to the good weather as anyone with hay fever will attest to. Last summer saw us at A&E with Screecher
Creature No. 1 who suffered an asthma attack as a result of his hay fever. So we’re road testing a new cure. I’m going
the homeopathic route as I am not thrilled with syringing 10mls of gunk into him
every day for the next couple of months.
It’s also looking like Screecher Creatures No.’s 2 and 3 might have a
touch of it too. This week I have been
trying and failing miserably to complete a 7k circuit in an effort to go for
the 10k. I managed it one night but it was a struggle
from beginning to end and I did not enjoy one minute of it. The next night I decided before leaving the
house that I wasn’t even going to try; I would just do the short run. Which I did but again, it was sheer
drudgery. It’s only a 4k circuit and it normally
takes me 20 minutes. What’s that all
about? Maybe I need to drink more water during
the day. How and ever, I was delighted
to discover that I still managed to shed another pound this week. Something
else that cemented itself in my mind; kids don’t need toys to play with. Mine certainly don’t which is a very good
thing indeed as they don’t possess too many.
A big bin of blocks is the only thing that has survived several
demolition derbies in this house. I
promised them a long time ago, that when the good weather arrives, they can
play with water to their hearts’ content.
See, I was banking on the good weather never arriving. I thought I was safe. The Screecher Creatures knocked huge
enjoyment out of some empty Mr. Muscle bottles this week. Thanks to the misting spray nozzle the water
didn’t run out too quickly so I wasn’t driven demented with requests for
refills and didn’t have to hunt them out of the bathroom as I normally would
when they decide to do such jobs themselves.
Keep all of your plastic bottles.
Great fun to be had. And if
you’re lucky, they’ll water your flowers while they’re at it! It seemed to be Screecher Creature No. 2’s
week. He was most excited by the fact I
attended a school meeting for his attendance there in September. He thinks that time won’t come quick
enough. How do I tell him this is going
to be for the rest of his life? He will
forever be governed by the clock on the wall now. And true to form, he had some interesting
questions that required answers. It’s
just a pity he chose me to answer them. He wanted to know: What is the first time? (Of what I don’t
know) What is the first day? (I think he
meant of the week, definitely nothing theological) How long is a second? (He just looked at me
blankly when I clicked my fingers to show him). And last but definitely not least, the most
popular question in our house; Why? I’d
make a better attempt at explaining the Fiscal Treaty yokey. He was also very interested to see me eat
chocolate. It’s not like it was the
first time and when I turned the tables on the question and answers session and
enquired of him was I not allowed, he seemed to think grown-ups “don’t eat
chocolate.” Daniel son, you have a lot
to learn. There was a school tour as
well for Screecher Creature No. 1. Excitement was high but I suspected from the
offset it was due to the probable contents of a bigger lunchbox than the tour
location itself. I was reminded several
times about the need to bring an extra drink, a raincoat, and sun cream. All of this, naturally, went right out the
window this morning. The same boy is also delighted with his recent
ability to shinny up the washing line pole and dangle there for as long as his
arms will allow. He believes it’s as a result of eating chicken. I’m going to try a green vegetable next week
and tempt him onto the roof of the house.
“It’s my third skill, Mammy. “ He informed me. I asked.
Well, you have to, don’t you? “My
first skill,” he took a breath and I swear he grinned at me, “is farting.” (or faaartin’) “And my second one is
burpin’. CV material to be sure. In fact I think there is a whole other blog
post in that one!
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