Warming Up

Catie has Covid again, so I had to look after the kids all day on my own. When has she ever done anything like this for me?…. this year. I’m not talking about 2021, that’s in the past. And not including when I had Covid in January. I must seriously start work on the app which lets parents know who is doing the most childcare/housework etc. Making the app counts as childcare time though.

Also if it shows that Catie does more than me then it’s broken and I am not going to market it.

Marriage is a competition at best…. A wonderful competition. That I am losing.

When I got Covid Catie missed out on loads of fun and work stuff cos she had to look after the kids. Then when she got it herself the first time, it was another busy week where she had to cancel stuff. This week she's missed out a couple of social engagements, but I have loads of stuff coming up in the next few days, including TWO TV appearances (I'm back in the big time...of losers) and five podcasts on Monday and Tuesday, so it'd be a disaster to get it now.

Sweet revenge for Catie and another few points in the marriage competition.

It was a tough day to get through, but we’d arranged to meet some other parents for a pub lunch so it was a bit less stressful, with eight kids of various sizes keeping each other occupied most of the time. Ernie was, predictably, the most rambunctious and he was lucky his mum wasn’t there as she would have not been quite so relaxed about some of his behaviour. But the worst he did was shoot water at people through a straw and try to dig a hole with his hands. Oh and he made a potion which involved pouring in abut a third of a bottle of vinegar and mixing that with dirt and cider and water… But he has an affectionate side and tried to look after the little ones (though there was always the worry that he might kill them with his kindness - feeding them chips and pushing the pram into hedges). 

He reminds me of someone, but I can’t quite put my finger on who. I’ve told him he won’t get anywhere in life by being so loud and silly.

The other parents were (mostly) pretty cool about his behaviour. Although you have to try and instil some sense of morality and decency into them, I think most people know that a 4 year old is just a whirling force of nature and you might as well try and teach the wind not to blow as to teach a small child not to be anarchic. Sometimes the wind will stop blowing and you think it’s because of all you taught it and that it’s learned its lesson. But then it’s back and approaching hurricane force and really not listening to a word you say.

It was a fun afternoon though.

I was glad Catie was staying in bed because by the end of the day the living room looked like an actual hurricane had gone through it (I tidied it all up in time, so she will never know what happened). I got the kids to bed. “I love you,” I told Phoebe. Phoebe started speaking and then stopped. “I nearly told you I loved you then,” she laughed. “I thought you were mummy.”

Just goes to show that kids respect boundaries and strictness.

So close though. I know she loves me really. Who wouldn’t?