Every day is like (Mothering) Sunday

Posted by: Serenity on: March 15, 2010

In: Uncategorized
3 Comments

Image courtesy of Nitis Florist

So it’s Mother’s Day again; my seventh as a receiver – as well as giver – of adulation. I’ve been promised a lie-in, breakfast in bed, and then an uninterrupted shower while my other half takes the boys round to see his mum. As 7.30 would be considered a lie-in at our house these days I was never too hopeful of any extra actual sleep, but it’s the thought (and the chance to have a cup of tea in bed without having to remind anyone it’s hot) that counts! Anyway, here’s how mine panned out.

6.35 am: The little one wakes up. He jabbers to himself for a couple of minutes before emitting a high-pitched wail to indicate his readiness to get up. I look over at my other half, who’s doing a determined if not too convincing ‘I’m fast asleep, me’ act. I go and get him and am rewarded with a big smile and a very wet kiss on the cheek as I lift him out of his cot. “Daddy!” he announces delightedly as I sit him in our bed, and my other half is roused from his faux slumber by a far-from-gentle slap to the face. Ha ha!

6.40 am: I try to encourage the little one to lie down and cuddle Teddy so I can doze for a few more minutes, but he’s having none of it. Instead, he fixes me with a determined stare and signs ‘milk’. Funny how babies manage to let you know exactly what they want, even when their vocabulary only extends to about five words and a variety of animal noises.

6.52 am: Milk break over, the little one continues his morning routine by cackling maniacally as he pokes his dad’s face. At this point the big one (aged six) appears. After some conspiratorial stage-whispering with his dad, he disappears and returns, beaming, with a homemade card, a bar of Green & Blacks and a pot plant. Two big cuddles and several minutes later, I’m alone at last with a cup of tea and my laptop.

I’ve barely had time to open up the said laptop when the big one returns. He’s going to build a level on his Indiana Jones Wii game, he explains, especially for me for Mother’s Day. To do this, he needs to know a few things. (Would I prefer water, mud or lava to surround the desert island? Should the hazard be snakes or giant red ants? Should there be purple jewels? Blue ones as well? What about gold and silver? Do I want one end of level boss, or two? The same, or different?) It’s honestly no exaggeration to say that this conversation goes on for at least 15 minutes, as he carefully explains the pros and cons of each option. I answer them all before gently hinting that he should maybe go and get started or he won’t have time to do anything before it’s time to go to Nan’s.

Fifteen minutes later my breakfast arrives: toast and jam, coffee and orange juice – menu courtesy of the big one. He wants to know why I’ve got orange juice and coffee. “I thought that was your idea,” I say. “Oh yeah,” he replies. They all move to the next room and spend a noisy ten minutes getting the little one washed and dressed. The big one appears at my side again. “Are you still in bed, Mum? What are you writing?” He proceeds to read over my shoulder, aloud, everything I’ve written. “What have you written that for, Mum?” Oh well.

Some time later, after they’ve all left to visit Nan, I pop downstairs to make myself another coffee and phone my own mum. I pick my way through what was once – for the few hours that the kids were in bed anyway – my lovely tidy, toy-free and relaxing living room, but now looks more like a branch of Early Learning Centre after a gang of feral toddlers has been let loose. I dial our home number on my mobile to reveal the whereabouts of the landline handset. It turns out to be under the beanbag, which in turn is under approximately 100 CDs that the little one has patiently unloaded from the shelf. (And to think his dad used to keep them all alphabetised – oh how spoiled we were!). The house is eerily quiet. I take the phone and my coffee back upstairs. A chat with mum, a shower, a quick tidy round the rooms they’ve rampaged through this morning (most of them, it seems!) and then I might have a few minutes to myself before my lovely boys arrive home. The house is too quiet without them. And besides, I don’t think I’ve claimed all those kisses and cuddles my Mother’s Day card promised yet.

Hope you had a lovely day 🙂