We moved again this weekend just gone (twice in six months! Who would do such a thing? It’s the last I’ll say on it as the whole thing is seriously too traumatic for words). We’re now supervisors in a college residence (College III kids, I bid you hello!) with 230 students. Gulp. Plus, they put us in the quiet block, I guess under the assumption that a family had to have a lower volume setting than an eighteen-year-old fresh from the nest, right?
Wrong. Our morning routine echoes down the halls.
GETYOURCLOTHESONSWEETIEGOODBOYHAVEYOUBRUSHEDYOURTEETH? An attack of the tickle slugs can be heard through five corridors. Even reading a nice, quiet book becomes a raucous adventure when your five-year-old wants to impersonate the entire herd of elephants in it. Poor students, I bet they rue the day they voted us in.
We use the canteen for dinners, which is a massive change for us all. Imagine for a minute: No. More. Cooking. The hours you scrape back on shopping, cooking, cleaning are pretty phenomenal, and ds1 loves it. He's constantly asking if ‘the café’ is open so he can get a(nother – is that bad? – it’s pretty much every dinner now but I guess the novelty will wear off. Severe guilt borne of the fact I’m not cooking for them anymore.) chocolate pancake. And I was just getting him to help lay the tables and help with the washing up...
[advert:mpu]But it’s got me thinking about all those families who live their lives in institutions like these. I mean, ds1 grew up in London, he knows that the whole world isn’t made up of young, student types who’ll play with you like you’re their kid brother and play Celine Dion at full blast all night (I know, we should get danger money…). But the wee chubling will grow up in an utterly different world for the next few years and I guess that’s all he’ll know. How do you cope, all you other families living in hotels, barracks, schools & the like? How do you keep a hold of reality? How do you go back to it afterwards?
OK, so one final word on The Move: I have one large Ikea bag left to unpack. I remember ramming stuff in it at 3am the night before and it’s been labelled ‘more bloody stuff’. I haven’t missed anything so far, and I can’t think what’s in it. Besides, we’ve moved from a three bedroom apartment to a one bedroom one – a purge of redundant items has inevitably taken place. How long do I give it before I just chuck the whole bag in the bin without glancing in it?
Bullying doesn’t just happen to other kids, it’s not always easy to spot and we need to give kids the confidence and the strategies to recognise and combat threatening behaviour.
Dp & I are getting married, 8 years and two kids down the line. It's less than a week away, we've got 100 people coming and we've yet to buy the rings - I haven't even found a dress - but here's ...
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Come on, I challenge you not to smile...
Watch out bugs, baby's about! Wiggle your tasty little abdomen in front of him and you're dead meat, honey!
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It's started: huge clumps of hair coming out when I brush my fingers through it. Plug hole totally bunged up when I have a shower. The old postpartum hair loss begins again...
So I think the happy hormones must be finally wearing off (fun while it lasted) and the incessant tiredness beginning to kick in. Or perhaps those are just my excuses for leaving the baby in the car ...
Paranoia was only made worse by horror stories from other mums: one who walked in on her older son standing in front of the new baby wielding a pair of scissors...
Son no.1 couldn't have been more pleased with his new baby brother. He picks out the cutest nappy for him to wear, and seems charmed when the baby does a poo whilst sitting on him!
We're pox-free, hooray! But a few days later ds broke out in hive-like red lumps - turns out that their wee bodies can have an allergic reaction to the chickenpox virus which causes its own rash. ...
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Poor old ds really isn't looking forward to 'Big School'. “They won’t like me” he sobbed, “I’ll be in the corner of the playground on my own because I won’t have any friends of my own!” He thinks ...