Making time for fun

Yesterday, my kids broke my heart. They asked to go to someone's (anyone's!) house to play, as they knew I was busy cooking dinner an washing and taking care of everyone.
And so, because it was Sunday and because Little One was napping in Daddy's arms and because my time will become even more diluted in a few short months, I threw up my hands and said 'I'm not too busy! What are we playing?'

For a while we played motorbikes, but I'm a little too big for the plastic push-along motorbike that I'm pretty sure Little Man is about 4 years too big for as well! Incessant rain put the kibosh on a trampoline bounce, and for a few minutes we debated boardgames. While we chatted, Little Lady absentmindedly twisted the bedknob at the foot of her bed. That's when the fun really started.

We all piled onto the bed, and I told them a little about that wonderful movie; Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Excitedly, they practiced saying 'Treguna Mecoides Trecorum Satis Dee'* a couple of times, and then it was time to give it our best shot.

As we had decided to fly the bed to the North Pole, first we wrapped up well. Always thinking of safety, we made sure everyone had something to hang onto during the flight. Little Lady twisted the bedknob the required quarter turn to the left, Little Man tapped it firmly three times, we all chanted the magic spell and then...

Nothing happened. Not a thing.

Little Man realised the bed couldn't get out with the window closed, so we opened it. Next he suggested that the bed may not actually know that magic spell, so he came up with his own:
'Little Lady loves her bed
And so do I,
We're sitting on it now
And we want to FLY!'

Excitedly, they hung on even tighter for our second attempt.
And our third.
On the fourth try they were certain they felt the bed wiggle.
And it wiggled even more on the fifth.
On the sixth try they thought they heard jingle bells and spied a reindeer out the window.

We sat on that bed for well over an hour, using every piece of magic we could think of - from happy thoughts to pixie dust to sparkly wands. The bed failed to fly, and the laundry failed to get done, but we had a heck of a fun time.

By now, our Sunday dinner was ready and we trooped downstairs to rejuvenate ourselves. The rest of the day passed much like any other Sunday, and we all assumed that was that.

This morning though, Hubby and I were faced with two (rare) sets of the Monday blues. After passing the Doctor Mammy health check, it was clear they both needed to go to school, but I wanted them to be happy about it.

I called them both into the sitting room, and announced that they were In Big Trouble. Two pairs of wide blue eyes gazed back at me. I pointed out the window, at the light dusting of snow on the car and asked them to explain themselves.

Little Lady caught on first. She twinkled her eyes at her big brother and squealed 'We flew the bed to the North Pole while you and Daddy were ASLEEEEEP!'. Little Man shrugged and grinned 'Sorry! We must have brought a snow cloud home with us, it probably got caught on the leg of the bed!'

They assured me that they had put their coats on over their pyjamas and held onto each other tight while flying, then they told me all about their adventure and they things they had seen.

On the walk to school, we watched as the North Pole Cloud made all the other clouds freeze and we danced along in the North Pole Snow.

The laundry may never be finished, my house will never look perfect, but the perfection of those cheeky smiles is priceless.




* I am aware (and here I'm mostly addressing you. Aoife) that this is the subsitutiary locomotion spell and not actually a bed-flying spell, but I took a little poetic licence with the sequence of events in the movie :)

Ode to a Dirty Face

I love that smear of porridge in your eyebrow
From playing peekaboo at breakfast time.

That smudge of blue under your chin
Is a reminder of the beautiful picture you drew, before you walked across it and it tore.

There's glitter in your hair
And if your sister sees it she'll know you were 'reading' her Valentine's cards.

There is a morning's worth of running and climbing caught in the jam around your mouth
And one clean cheek above which your blue eye shines with the mischief that meant we were much too busy to clean the rest.

You look, as always, perfect.