1. Daring To Kiss
2. Spring Animals
3. Dinner With A Friend
I spent the night with Son 1 aged 4y 4m. He’s still hot and bothered. I got up just before 5am, and decided I Do Not Drink Coffee till 6am. I cracked at 0520. Did some admin/paperwork. The Man got up. Off on a Business Trip. Very pleased to see me Downstairs. He’d thought, as I wasn’t with Son 1, that I must be behind closed doors with Son 2 aged 17m. The Man dares not go into The Lightest Sleeper In The World’s bedroom, and thought it would be bad luck to leave without kissing goodbye. After all these years I think that counts as a Good Thing.
A text from a Wednesday Mum. Little Three Year Old Friend fell off the new bunk bed ladder last night and has broken his arm. Overnight in The Hospital, in theatre this morning. I rang. Tib and fib. Carried off in an ambulance. Five weeks in plaster ahead. We went off to the Bird Park. It was indescribably busy. Every table packed, buggies everywhere, people standing round the edges. The Other Wednesday Mum went for coffees while Son 2 and I played in the toddler area. A table became free right next to it. I stepped over and plonk. Camp struck, Good Thing bagged. Son 1 played, but as his calpol wore off his mood crashed. We went outside. Down to the Farm. The goats weren’t hungry - half term, they ‘d eaten hundreds of bags of pellets. they just wanted grass. There was a great fat black pig with ten gorgeous tiny piglets. As a vegetarian, I can enjoy the cuteness of piglets guilt-free. The quails had chicks. The Big Fat Hens had laid eggs in the hen houses. We went up to the Penguin Pond. Son 1 climbed up on the wall and sat, in a “W,” which meant he takes up three times as much room as a child sitting cross-legged. About sixty children were crammed round the wall. Buckets of fish arrived with two keepers. “We need about 12 volunteers!” Every had shot up. Son 1 has learned from previous disappointments, and is now much better at getting picked. He was the best penguin-feeder by far. Coat off, shoes off, dive into bucket. Fling Those Fish.
Only. We’d forgotten Nanna was coming at 4pm. I tried ringing, and off we sped. Her car was parked near the house, no sign of her. My mobile went. She was waiting with our neighbours. We drove down to The Square and went into Pizza Express for tea. The boys were worn out and loudly fractious. And then in came Son 1’s nearly six-year-old friend with his Mother, just back from the panto. They sat on the other side of the restaurant, and Son 1 spent the entire meal with them. I sent over a glass of Pinot Grigio as a babysitting fee. So. Rude to Nanna, but he wate nearly every scrap of pizza, and Nanna and I got our food. Son 2 went for a walk round the restaurant with Nanna, fell over, hit his nose and split his lip open again.
After a long, late, exhausting bedtime, I rang 3 year old’s father at home, and then his mum in the hospital. They were both within 1m of him when it happened. Second rung from the bottom of the ladder, foot slipped in, child fell and they heard the “snap.” He has two greensticks and one proper fracture. He was X-Ray Of The Day. He’s on calpol. He seems fine. In the next bed is a little girl still recovering from the car crash in which her brother died. It’s really only a scratch on Son 2’s lip.
Tags: Bird Park, broken arm, business trip, feeding penguins, fever, goats, greenstick fracture, hens, hospital, Nanna, penguins, piglets, Pizza Express, quails, x-ray
[...] to see her, A Grand Old Age, sitting on the windowsill in the rain waiting for us. Er… see http://mumsnet.com/blogs/serenedays/2009/02/18/the-cuteness-of-piglets/ We made special fried rice for tea. I had a new Le Crueset serving dish for my birthday. I put [...]