We have crabs!
First week of the summer holidays and we are surviving. Just.
wI don’t know what is going on, but we are all exhausted. I was convinced for a while that the kids were just genuinely tired of this year and they were stealing my energy, the same way in which they steal my sleep.
Maybe it’s actually, or most definitely is sleep deprivation. The freedom of the holidays gives the illusion that you don’t have to get up in the mornings so we stay up later. When the truth is, yes you don’t have to get up early, but you can count on the sleep thieves to wake you up well before you want to be awake. More than likely earlier than term time.
Anyway, I saw one of the kindest things in the world from another kid the other day. Something magical and imaginative that filled my kids faces with sheer and innocent happiness. This kid was dressed as spiderman (a pretty decent costume, like a morph suit) and was “spidermanning” his way along to the play park. He saw how excited and intrigued my kids were and came across to say hi. (if you don’t know my kids, they have always been into dressing up, mostly my youngest who enjoys a hero costume everyday and introduces himself as captain america most days, so you can imagine the delight.)
So this kid comes up and says “hi” he then asks for a hi-five. My youngest gives him a hi-five and this kid launches himself backwards as if my youngests hit had been overpowering. It was a little magic in what had been a rather grey day.
We had spent the day grumpy and arguing, (I say “we” when I mean it was the kids constantly chewing each other’s heads off.) So I had the idea of going rock pooling as it was something from our holiday list that I could actually cope with doing. Downside was it was raining, but it was warm and chances are, anytime we go close to a beach, we end up like drowned rats anyway.
We were so surprised at the amount of crabs we saw and the kids had a blast picking up crap from the rocks. Sea glass is a favourite and my eldest is very keen when it comes to finding rubbish and saving the sea (thanks to his school teacher). I hope he doesn’t ever lose his love for nature and the planet, it may come in rather handy for the future.
We saw a giant moth on the beach too amazingly and then headed to the play park, which unfortunately only lasted 10 minutes before dragging the kids away. Their crazy ass behaviour was scaring other kids. Usually it wouldn’t be an issue at the park and they would make friends with anyone and everyone, but this day, they were like unrecognisable savages. Best I keep them in our own mental home until sanity returns.
Thankfully I woke up to my normal loving kids back the following day and I knew we could leave the house without muzzles and leads at least. (kidding, I promise) We walked the length of the beach with the dog and a friend and found some huge crabs again, oh and half a fish. Luckily I have a really brave friend who doesn’t mind picking dead things up, much to the admiration of my kids and I. Unfortunately my doorstep now reeks of shellfish and seaweed as this has become the official resting place for the dead things from the beach.
Might at least keep unwanted visitors from my door.
The first week of the holidays is over and I am still yet to get our list on the wall and organise anything for the next 6 weeks. We have planned nothing really and are living day to day, making things up as we go along and really it’s great. I’m not being beating myself up about it, I’m loving procrastinating as long as it doesn’t last too long.
We had no idea what else to do this day and were in a mood of being frustrated. I messaged a few friends and mentioned we were going to the park, luckily one replied and called us up on the offer and we walked to the park, the kids were happy and content having a blast until we heard the most annoying tune ever, a song that mid lunch was infuriating. The ice cream van.
He pulled into the carpark and felt like a childcatcher to us. Here we were trying to feed our kids a sandwich and healthy snacks and he pulled in with his sweet truck singing the song of all parents’ nightmares. Luckily a flat “no,we are having lunch” was enough for the kids, probably because we were at the park.
We decided that we would give camping a go and built a ridiculously big tent in the back garden. i thought this way at least we could run in the house if it became too much. This was great in theory but in reality when my eldest woke up screaming in the middle of the night (beacuse of the cat climbing accross our tent) , we couldnt go anywhere. I absolutly crapped it and hid us all under the duvet a little more. Oh also, by this point we were already sleeping on the hard ground as our air bed had deflated within 20 minutes of falling asleep. Typical camping experience and possibly one of the better ones i`ve had, at least no one got shot! (thats a whole other story)
Our door rang today and I got all excited as I thought it was the postman, although he would only be delivering dog food, I was looking forward to it. I headed to the door and saw this bright yellow figure heading away through the glass. Not your typical postie so i was a tad confused. I looked outside and saw a huge jar of sunflowers (forever ones) and I kid you not, my heart melted and about fell out. It was such a lovely surprise and exactly what I needed for today. I waved and thanked my gift bearing friend hoping she knows the relief and joy she brought with the gesture.
A few minutes later the door went again and my partner, increasingly confused, ran to see who it was, “is that seriously the door again? ” this time it was the postie and my partner retreated back to the bedroom knowing it’s not zombies..
I climb the stairs to talk to him and tap the banister as I’m going. “ Who’s at our door!” he bellows.
We are clearly living on different planets today and he definitely does not get as excited as I do when people knock on the door. Possibly because he doesnt shop online as often as I do.
I also saw a friend and her kids today who felt like home. I’ve missed the feeling for so long and it rarely happens because we live a while away from each other, not too far really, but far enough that it does really require plenty of effort and planning, which none of us are good at. Anyway, we spend most of the time when we meet up, chasing our kids so conversations are only slightly less broken than when we try texting. However, it’s still lovely. We can expect nothing less and watching one of your best friends’ kids grow up is heatwarming and extremely rewarding. Thinking back I could never have imagined us raising kids and being responsible (kind of) adults. In fact if anything, I had imagined we would be doing the polar opposite, but this is definitely better.
My final treat for today was forgetting to clean the toilet seat before sitting down. Unfortunatly it happens so often that really im the fool for not checking. The moment the wetness hits your skin is soul crushing and by then its too late to do anything about it. One massive thing I was never told about before having boys was how many memorable moments are spent near the toilet.
I was even treated to a running comentary of my son pooping. It went something like this:
“Its ok mum, i got this…… here it comes….. (squeezing facials)…….nearly…………… yes, I got it”
Luckily im used to the madness here, well I should be anyway, I created it.