home alone with the clippers

Awww... how could anyone mistake him for a little girl..?

The first day/ night we were ok. I'd been to work all day and Mum had been with the kids. I felt tired but ok. Jan, Tony and Aimee came round for a (not very good) tea, especially for poor Aimée who, of all of us, needed a good feed. She doesn't eat tomatoes in any way, shape or form – pizza was out, as was the salad I prepared in front of her with cherry toms in it... but it was great to see them, if at times very sad, talking about all the stuff that's happened to Jan over the past few years, and great to catch up.

Going to bed the first night was... odd. I sort of put it off for a bit, and then a bit more, but eventually, locking all of the doors and turning off all of the lights, I got into bed. It was so strange to lie there wearing Mik's 'nightie' knowing that it was just me in charge, that he wasn't going to soon be totally comatose on the sofa in front of some film he's already seen but can't remember because last time he tried to watch it exactly the same thing happened, nor would he be staggering to bed an hour and a half later complaining about a stiff neck.

The next morning was odd too, although Oscar slept until 7.30 which meant I could job the jobs I had to without fielding him too, which was nice. It's all gone pretty smoothly apart from the second night when I found it difficult to turn off the telly and go to bed alone again, and then there was the incidence of the enormous wee on the third evening. Elly and Oscar played for ages in the bath and the water had long since gone cold when they got out. Elly was all cosy on the sofa while I dried Oscar, who as always complained and wriggled. He managed to break free, ran into the living room and jumped onto the other sofa, and was sitting looking very suspicious in the corner of it when I came into the living room. "You had better not...!" was all I managed to get out before I saw he was sitting in a pool of wee. Not your little boy, 27-wees-a-day sort of a puddle either, a huge man-sized Dr. Forster kind of puddle. There were amazingly no expletives but the voice was raised. I mean really. Why not in the bath? Or even on the bathroom rug? Either would have been preferable, with, I have to say, the potty being my #1 choice, but no. Save it up, sit on the sofa and then let it aaaalllll go... he had to have a shower. Then, after another drying drama, pyjama-ed and most importantly nappied, he proceeded to sit on the wet part of the sofa. The cushion was off but there had been sooo much wee it had gone through and soaked the bit that the cushion rests on. Not once did he do that but twice. Little Bugger.

On the subject of LBs, Elly had the day off school today and I had the afternoon off, and for once, apart from a wee shower the weather was lovely (short sleeves and everything!) so we went to the park. For ages. It was fab, we played ball, played on the parky things, with the sand, had 'merienda' on a bench, an apple and a shared ice-cream (very funny). We bought duck food and fed the swans, Elly all the time complaining about the swans and wanting the ducks to come over, but being unable to stop throwing the food for them. She got pecked last week when Mik took them (in the rain...) to do the same, and it was the main topic of conversation.
Anyway, it was whilst we were running about on one of the parky things that a man with his little boy said, "Watch out for the little girl". Nothing odd about that you might think, except Elly was nowhere to be seen and the remark was directed at Oscar! "I know he's beautiful, but he's a little boy!" I wailed, and as I walked away with my little pretty one, madly muttering under my breath, "Right, that's it, you are so getting your hair cut when we get home", mutter mutter... it's been bandied about as an idea for a while, but that was the final straw. I decided to not even wait for Mik Scissorhands, and got straight to it. He was lovely, even with the clippers, and now looks like the little piddling thug he is! Gorgeous.

Elly had a wee wobble tonight. In general she's been ok about Papa being away, but tonight we chatted to him and Virginia on Skype. That was odd in itself as they could see us but we couldn't see them and there was a mad delay so we didn't really 'chat' as it were. More, they laughed at the faces we pulled in the camera. It's funny how self-conscious you become when you can see yourself on a Skype video feed, it isn't exactly flattering, and I normally look as though I'm staring off into space. But as I couldn't see how daft I looked I ended up doing some very odd things, not least because of the delay... aaanyway. Elly was in and out of view and after a while came and told me in no uncertain terms, "Stop ringing people!". Then there was a lip wobble as we said goodbye to Papa and she said she was all sad and could I make her a card to tell her how much I love her. I'm filling up just remembering it. Bless. How could I refuse? That and the request for some of my 'special' chocolate that Rog had brought round. Lindt Orange if you please, I'm sure I wasn't indulged such eclectic tastes at the age of nearly 5.

I have to say it all sort of runs like clockwork, thanks to my amazing organisational skills and the wonderful help of Mum. One more sleep; the kids are already there & I'll be joining them soon. No trouble getting off tonight, I think; while I'm hoping it'll be a long time before we have to do it again, I'll be (not too secretly) plotting and planning how I can repay the favour :-)