September....Are We Nearly There Yet?!

The last time I properly wrote about my life with the Mini Copters, I was moaning about how I’m a rubbish mum who was desperate to get back to work and unable to cope with 2 kiddies full time but then I was glad because actually things got ok and I was actually going to miss them. (Don’t you love a re-cap?! Unlike cheap reality programmes, I won’t be doing it at the start of each new paragraph….) WELL. I maaaaaay be having a bit of a tough time again….! 

We are currently experiencing our first “School Summer Holiday” without the aid of our brilliant (and desperately missed) child minder, Gale. She’s had the audacity to go on holiday with her family! (In all seriousness, for a well-earned break.) Emlyn and I are taking it in turns to use our annual leave to cover the summer holibobs each day of the week.

So we are without the term-time structure of getting up and out the house, healthy walk, few hours of structured activity (school), either straight to Gale's or healthy walk / scoot home, lunch and then an afternoon including various visits to friends (ALL of whom seem to be on holiday RIGHT NOW) or hanging out at the park or seeing Nana or just being in the house which isn’t boring because we haven’t been there, stuck in our tiny front room, ALL DAY since 6am. Boring. BORED.

That’s my son’s newest, and my most hated new thing. He’s bored by EVERYTHING. He’s always been great at playing by himself and finding things that keep him busy…which I know is pretty unusual for a kid his age. Um, this might be because I’m a lazy, neglectful mum however?! Anyway recently he’s loved sitting quietly and drawing and drawing for hours on end, he also usually loves playing with his millions of Thomas (et al) trains, or he is quite happy to run around dressed as Buzz / Woody, play with his cars or play outside on the climbing frame, making up games and creating hysterical narratives that are brilliant to eavesdrop on … a classic being “Thomas was very upset because Thomas’s face smelt of dinner!” But now, no matter what the activity, within seconds he declares boredom and dramatically flops on the nearest soft furnishing! Yesterday, after being glued to Thomas videos for ages, I prized him off the sofa and into wet weather gear and shoved him outside into our glorious, big garden. It was wet but the sun was out and I gave him the ultra-fun job of emptying the (rain filled) paddling pool by chucking the contents all over the garden. A few weeks ago, he’d have found this hilarious. He did it for a total of 20 seconds before standing stock-still and declaring that he was BORED.

Later at my mum’s house (Nana’s) we set out a load of painting gear, got him into his overalls and sat down with him, encouraging him to print and paint. 5 minutes later: I’M BORED. Ugh. I wanted to cry. It took longer to put the stuff away than the time he spent using it.

Now to be fair to him, all his friends are away or have been away on holiday, the weather in the last few weeks has been pants so I’ve been less inclined on my days at home with him & the baby to take them out on foot or by bus because I’m yet to pass my driving test (but I am learning!). AND he’s had a weird virus has given him few symptoms, the odd temperature spike, weird flat rash which didn’t develop into much, a morning of throwing up and 2 solid weeks of being an utter bastard to me/Emlyn. He’s been angry, defiant, annoyed…an example would be the baby making the minutest of squeaks “Ssssh!”; her even LOOKING at his toys “She can’t have that, it’s MIIIINE!”; us asking him any question about anything or asking him to do anything ever. It’s been HARD WORK.

Also the baby is just on the cusp of crawling and is frustrated at her static state and therefore demands more of mine or Emlyn’s attention. So “boredom” (or lack of daily routine), lack of company his age, being stuck in a tiny house, the virus AND the baby attention stealing has made for a pretty unhappy little dude.

Which in turn has made mine and Emlyn’s lives preeeeeeeettty tough.

I don’t want to be the kind of mum who wishes her kids’ lives away….every time a hard “phase” comes up though, I find myself just staring longingly at the future to when things get easier (please, no veteran parent step in here and tell me this is a fallacy!). It makes me feel so guilty that I am not appreciating the good stuff that is happening around me right now. Like the baby….she claps! She has teefs! She can nearly crawl! My son is funny! He’s AMAZING at drawing! *creative genes take a bow* He eats broccoli without complaint! He’s polite (to other people)!

But back to the point. So our first experience of school holidays isn’t the best. I know it will get easier the older they both get. But right now, I can’t WAIT for September 1^st to come around. I’m not the only mum that feels like this, right? Right????