A Day in the Life, one year later

Wake up. Time for milk and snuggles. Yay!

The Girl comes in and climbs into our bed too. Get a hug. I have to share the Mammy and the Daddy with her now, but she makes me laugh so it's ok.

Show everyone the sore things in my mouth. They're pointy. Get a hug.

The Mammy brings me to The Boy's bed. His eyes are closed so I poke him in the face. Yay - he's awake! Get a hug.

The Daddy gets me dressed for the day. I tell him all about my sleep. 'Dada dada DA! NNN. Ha ha ha. Buh buh buh.' Get a hug.

The Mammy puts my ears in. Get a hug.

Sit on floor and bang my drum. It goes BOOM BOOM BOOM. I like my drum.

Eat breakfast. It's yummy. I like my breakfast.

Try to eat The Boy. He laughs. Throw the ball. He catches it.

The Mammy shows me Mirror Boy. He is THE BEST. I wave at him. He waves too.

I show him my blue ball. He has a blue ball as well! I laugh. He laughs as well. That makes me laugh. That makes him laugh as well. I think Mirror Boy is my best friend.

Time for milk and snuggles. Sleepy. ZZZZzzzz

NOT sleepy anymore. Get a hug.

Eat some broccoli. I like broccoli.

Try to reach things that are up high. Empty some bags and boxes.

The Girl tells me 'Be CAREful Baby!'. Try to eat The Girl. Get a hug.

Do some crawling and find some floor dirt to eat. Yay!

I'll tell The Mammy all about it 'Mama, buh buh BUH! Da da. Nye nye nye.' The Mammy takes my floor dirt. Not yay.

Time for milk and snuggles.

Play with my drum while The Boy and The Girl sing songs. Eat a book.

Climb up The Daddy's leg. Get a hug.

Tickle time! The Daddy is very funny.

The sore things in my mouth are hurting. Chew on chair. Doesn't help. Think I'll find The Mammy for milk and snuggles.

Crawl into hallway and shout at red door. I like the red door.

Start to get sleepy. The Mammy finds my 'jamas.

Help The Mammy and The Daddy to read books to The Boy and The Girl. Try to eat The Boy and The Girl.

The Mammy puts away my ears. Time for milk and snuggles.

ZZZZZzzzzzz

My ice bucket challenge

I know it's been done.
I know you're getting bored.  

But try to remember that a worthy cause simply has its day in the sun. Motor Neuron Disease is a long-neglected, little understood disease.

For €2 and a bit of fun, you could make a difference to a patient and their family. Text MND to 50300 or donate here.

Oh, and you can laugh at me.

Back to School 2014

I don't know why parents talk about Back to School time being stressful.

All that's required is a modicum of organisation.

Those of us in possession of such basic organisational skills ordered all of the schoolbooks online, in July to avail of a 10% discount. Said schoolbooks were then delivered to the door, with covers, to await labelling and placing in schoolbags. Simple.

Uniforms have been kindly handed down by friends of ours. Tick that box!

A lunchbox, as is tradition, has been bought by Nanny for Little Lady who is terribly pleased.

So here we are, with one week left till school starts back and we're in great shape!

Except that I can't find the 'safe place' where I put Little Man's labels from last year. Ok, I guess I'll just write his name on all his books. And pencils. And jumpers. Feck.

Still, Little Lady's labelling is going very well. Schoolbag, books, lunchbag, uniforms and coat all adorned with a purple owl and her name. Great! I must put these shoe labels in her shoes. Oh. Shoes... Those'd come in handy, wouldn't they?

I suspect Little Man should also retire the flip-flops he's worn all Summer and get a pair of shoes that actually fit too. Feck.

Right, well we'll have to sort that out. For now though, I'll just double check the stationery fee listed on each kid's booklist and pop that in an envelope for the teachers. Yes, there's the list. Yep, all books ticked off as they were labelled and put into schoolbags. Hang on, what's this? At the bottom of Little Man's list:

B2 handwriting copies x 6

HB triangular pencils x 4

Project copy, 40 pages x 2

Sums copy, 20mm squares, 40 pages x 1

Well, feck.

You know what? Back to school time is a smidge stressful...

'Cool' is in the eye of the beholder

My four-year-old daughter is a thing of beauty. I do not mean her hair, or her skin, although sadly those are what she is complimented on most often.
The beauty that strikes me is her essence, it shines through in a darkened room and cannot be hidden by any mask.
She is brave, funny and ferociously loving. Her intuition and her ability to diffuse a bad mood is damned useful! She is, in her own way, utterly perfect at being who she is.

The other day I was almost - almost - too busy to remember any of this. Feeling under pressure for time, I ignored her sense of style and her utter independence, and I picked out clothes for her. She dressed while I changed the baby, and she walked in to the room with a dejected look on her face. Still thinking of getting out the door quickly, I decided to jolly her along. 'Oh wow sweetheart! You look so cool!'
And then tears filled her eyes, and my wonderful girl's voice wobbled as she informed me 'I know. But Mammy, I don't look cool to me!'

It was a moment I don't think I'll ever forget, and it reminded me that as much as I strive to teach our children something new every day, I will never stop learning new things from them either.

While we have jokingly called my Little Lady a threenager, I don't envy my kids their teens. It seems to me (perhaps through rose-tinted glasses) that the social pressures kids today are put under are much exaggerated versions of the ones we dealt with in our younger years. I have often looked at my independent, feisty girl and thought that hopefully she'll have the strength not to go along with the crowd, to think for herself and be true to her own identity. So what the hell was I doing?

I took a breath, I invited her into my arms for a cuddle, and I whispered into her velvety skin 'Ok, pop upstairs and get yourself dressed properly. We have a minute before we really have to go.'

No appointment, no schedule is important enough to squash the spirit of a small child. It took about 90 seconds for her to present herself again; adorned in rainbow-striped leggings, a polka-dot skirt and a Spiderman T-shirt. And this time, she really did look cool. If those 90 seconds help her to remember at a crucial time in her life, that the only person she needs to impress is herself, then they'll have been worth it ten times over.