1.  Hair Brush

2.  Paint Brush

3.  Tooth Brush

Son 1 aged 4y 6m and Son 2 aged 19m slept in till 7am.  Eight hours’ sleep.  Unheard of.  Amazing.  Carved on stone tablets as A Good Thing.  Son 1 aged 4y 6m needed a wee and I had beaten him to it.  Sitting on the floor, his legs in his little “W” shape, he gazed up at me.  There is not another man alive who would look at me, sitting on the loo, in my pyjamas, no make up, mad professor hair, and say: “You’re so beautiful.”

I left The Office late, again.  Another phone call to Wonder Nanny.  Another “No Worries,” from her.   I got home to a silent house.  They were all outside.  Son 1 naked, painting the shed with water and a big brush.  Son 2 stripped down to his nappy, playing with a plastic toy box full of water.  Son 1 hopped around, whooping, excited.  Son 2 was beside himself at seeing me, and then burst into tears as a full paintbrush-load of cold water was flicked all over him by an out-of-control Son 1. 

Books, bath, bed.  Son 2 was in the bath, Son 1 and I were cleaning his teeth.  Two brushrounds downstairs, two brushrounds upstairs, One For Luck and A Good Old Spit in the sink between each one.  Son 1 has added another part to the ritual.  We press our faces together photo-fashion, look in the mirror and smile.   This evening he looked at our reflections and again, out of the blue said  ”You are beautiful, Mummy.”  I had them both in bed and asleep before 8pm, which considering the time I got back, was another Very Good Thing Indeed.

1.  The school run

2.  The school lunch

3. The milk bottle

Marathon session today.  Me and two boys to get up and out of the house early enough to get to the New Nursery, drop off Son 1 aged 3y 11m, get back to the  Old Nursery, drop off Son 2 aged 1, and then get back to The Office.  Then I needed to collect Son 1, collect Son 2, get them home, wait for Wonder Nanny to arrive and get back to the New Nursery for parents’ evening.  I did it, but I was up at 0530, didn’t get lunch, and could only grab some breadsticks and houmous with the boys before I had to pile out again.

Son 2 had his first Big Boy Food at nursery.  I’ve made him lunch for his first six months there; now he is 1, I am moving him on to their food.  He usually has carefully and lovingly made organic baby mush from one of my many Annabel Karmel cookbooks . (”Sweet potato and lentil is his favourite/he needs iron he’d better have spaghetti bolognese/salmon and tomato sauce, I think, to give him some Omega 3.”)  He had sausages and spaghetti hoops and ate it all.  

Wonder Nanny put the boys to bed.  Did their bath, gave Son 2 a bottle and then read to Son 2 till he fell asleep.  Here I sit, having not breastfed my baby at night for the first time in his life.  And having not been involved in his bedtime…  He’s 1 now, I’ve done really well with him and now I can try all this stuff.  I’ve been trying to cut the quantity of milk I give him in the morning, ready to cut that feed first when The Man gets back.  But I think I’ll see how I get on.        

1.  Slower start

2.  Playing

3.  Books and bath and bed

Nothing at all to do today, which meant this morning was, for once, laid back.  Son 2 aged 9m had another reasonable night - he woke up when I went to bed at midnight… and then started gurgling just after 6.  I went and got him at 6.30 and Son 1 aged 3 and a half instantly appeared.  Son 1 watched telly, Son 2 played with bricks and Son 1’s toys. I drank coffee and rang The Man.  Who says he’s going to try and come home on Wednesday.  Hmmm. Gave Son 2 toys to play with while I had a shower… then while I did hair/put make up on/washed brushes… and then unsurprisingly he started to cry in sheer boredom.  So down we went for breakfast.

There was a bit of time today to sort toys, and a bit to play.  But I think I always forget how much there is to do when you’re looking after children.  By the time you’ve done 3 meals and sundry drinks and snacks… done nappies, sorted poos, washed up, cooked, cleaned, done laundry… where is this quality time that I would have with my children if only I didn’t work?  Oh who cares, we did all right.  I went under one of the eaves to see if I could find some Son 1 babystuff which I’m sure hasn’t come out.  I will find it when Son 2 is 2, of course.  Son 1 and I made a robot out of baby duplo.  We watched a bit of telly, and did a bit of a puzzle.  Son 2 and I played bash the Martians, and then he had a nap of more than an hour.  Son 1 and I made biscuits.   

Our only fresh air came after tea, when I packed up both boys and we went off down the road to get my car to bring it near the house to make things easier tomorrow morning.  Bathtime was great.  I had Son 2 naked on a towel while I ran the bath, and Son 1 crouched down beside him, stroked his back, put his head next to his and said “Oh (Son 2) you are so beautiful.” I put them in together and we had lots of splashing and laughing at each other.  Son 2 took a long time to go off, and then Son 1 and I did our reading and chatting.   Three library books, all chosen by him.  One on how to build a house, one about babies and how they grow and one about donkeys.  What else does a boy need to know?