The Mummy Diaries – Week 28
IT’S BEEN ONE STORM after another this last week. No, not in the house for once! Well maybe just a couple of small hurricanes. We just got over Storm Ciara and then Storm Dennis hits. Poor Jamie missed out on a couple of days of nursery because of the awful weather. This meant keeping two toddlers amused in the house. All day. Yes, it’s been a rather long week!
Jamie, Lily and I can usually endure any type of weather that hits us on the walk up to play school and home. Jamie has a raincoat, a wind-proof coat, a woolly hat, a water-proof hat, scarf, gloves, water-proof trousers and wellies. Lily also has all of the above, plus she has the extra buggy cover so she doesn’t have to endure the rain. And me? Well as usual, I have the same jacket I’ve had for the last five years that’s wind-proof, water-proof, puke-proof and pee-proof. All you need to parent! But even all that, and there was no way I was taking the kids out in the storm we had last week. Torrential rain, sleet, snow, hail and 50 mph winds. No thanks! So, from one storm to another, we had to entertain ourselves in the house.
Lily was quite happy having Jamie home and enjoyed all the attention Jamie was giving her. As I explained last week, Jamie has been really good with Lily the last few weeks. He has been sharing his toys and giving her cuddles and kisses and even consoling her when she cries. It’s so sweet. This week, we’ve moved onto the next ‘lovely’ phase. The Pinkie and The Brain phase! You remember that cartoon we used to watch as kids? One character was smart but short and the other character was taller but not as clever? Well that’s what it’s like. Lily has now cottoned on to the fact that Jamie can get her things that she can’t reach or is not allowed to. Of course, Jamie is only happy to oblige!
So, with having the usual house chores and then work to do in the morning, it was a case of finding things to keep the kids entertained while I was able to get jobs done. We were getting on great for the first hour or so. Jamie and Lily were happy to play Lego, then pretend to bake buns with their kitchen and then it happened. All hell broke loose with Lily. The two of them were happily playing when Lily decided she wanted the pan Jamie had in his hand.
“No Lily.” Jamie said.
“Yes!!!” Lily roared.
“Guys, play nice.” I said.
Lily screams. Jamie shoves the pan into her hand and runs off. Lily in her temper, launches the pan across the room where it lands on the sofa.
Silence.
Lily walks over to the sofa and attempts to grab the pan but it’s too far back. She tries to climb up but she can’t lift herself and starts to cry. Jamie runs through to the sitting room.
“It’s okay Lily here you go.” He says while lifting the pan off the sofa and handing it to her. At that point I could actually see the cogs turning in Lily’s brain! Peace restored for all of 20 minutes.
I managed to get another bit of work done while the kids were happy playing until Lily marched through to the kitchen.
“Mummy hungry, mummy biscuit?” asks Lily.
“No biscuit Lily, mummy will make lunch in five minutes okay.” I replied.
Lily starts to whinge. Okay, I thought, I could just make it now and save the drama. I gathered all the folded clothes up off the kitchen table and went to head upstairs to move them out of the way.
“Mummy lunchtime?” asks Jamie.
“Yip, just give me two minutes to put this washing away and I’ll come down and make it.” I said.
Okay, yes, it took me maybe four minutes to put the washing away but I didn’t think they would take it literally. It was that eerie silence again. The one where you just know they are up to something. I bolted downstairs and what do I find? Lily is sitting up on the sofa munching away on a bag of crisps and Jamie is on the floor putting his Lego back in the bag.
“Eh, how on earth did you get up there lady? And I told you no rubbish before lunch!” I said while lifting Lily down and taking the crisps off her. I looked over at Jamie who looked very sheepish! Mmmm.
After lunch I put the pair of them down for a nap and managed to get the house looking like a bomb hadn’t exploded in the toy box. I also managed to get the rest of the work done so I could spend a couple of hours playing with the kids before dinner. Lily was awake first but as usual sings The Wheels on the Bus at the top of her lungs and wakes Jamie up then as well. They were both in great form after having a snooze and we spent the next hour with crayons and colouring books. Lily was starting to get a bit fed up and decided she wanted to watch Finding Nemo.
“Mummy Nemo please?” she asked.
“Yip okay.” I replied and switched the TV on.
I walked back through to the kitchen to put the kettle on when I could hear Lily whinging and gurning.
“Jamie!” She shouts. Jamie hops off his chair and runs through to the sitting room. I quietly peered around the door and found Jamie pushing Lily up onto the sofa! I couldn’t believe the craft of her, shouting on Jamie to help her up and then Jamie happy to help! Of course, Lily was so delighted to be up on the sofa where she wasn’t allowed and got on her feet and started jumping up and down like it was a trampoline!
“Lily no!” I said and lifted her down on the floor. “That’s naughty, you’ll fall and hurt yourself.” And then of course, the meltdown.
I spent the rest of the day with my heart in my throat racing back and forth into the sitting room, trying to stop Lily from catapulting herself off the sofa. With Jamie’s help, she had now figured out that if she put a cushion down first, then she could easily climb up herself without Jamie’s assistance. “This storm better of gone by tomorrow.’ I was praying.
But it didn’t.
Another fun pact day of trying to keep my mini me alive and try to explain to Jamie that it’s good that he’s helping Lily with some things but not so good with others. I was confused myself! I managed to keep the pair of them entertained until late afternoon and it was time to make the dinner. I couldn’t think of anywhere safer that to just put Lily in the play pen and let Jamie play with his puzzles. Lily was furious of course but I couldn’t take the chance as I couldn’t watch her close enough.
After dinner, James played with the kids while I got tidied up and got washing folded. A few minutes later, James appeared in the kitchen red faced.
“Daddy chase!” Jamie said excited.
“No that’s it now, Daddy’s tired.” James replied and Jamie and Lily went through to the sitting room.
“How did you get on today?” I asked James.
“Aye fine, the usual…” THUD! “WHAAAAAA!” Lily cried.
We ran through to the sitting room to find Lily face down on the floor next to the sofa. I lifted Lily up and waited for her to take a breath before she let out another cry. She buried her face into my shoulder. I looked over at Jamie whose bottom lip was starting to go. James lifted him up and he started to cry too. I managed to get a look at Lily. No blood. But a nice big lump and a bruise was starting to appear already on her forehead.
“This is why you can’t go up on the sofa.” I said. Jamie was calming down and cuddling James.
I was never as glad to see 8.00pm and bedtime. I came downstairs and started making the lunches for James and Jamie for the following day.
“Are you taking Jamie to nursery tomorrow?” James asked. “Another storm is due to hit again.”
“I don’t care if there is a 100-mph hurricane tomorrow!” I replied. “Jamie is going back to nursery!”
