Thursday 20 December 2007

One for the road?

It's the first day of Boy #1's Christmas Break, and already I resorted to a DVD (The Incredibles - which means, of course, that Boys #1 and #2 are now Dash and Jack-Jack respectively) in the afternoon.

Bad mother.

Mind you, in my defence, this was after an action-packed day which started with a suitably picturesque sojourn in the garden first thing this morning when everything was prettily covered in ice. We don't get this often in central London, so I tried in vain to interest my Boys (I think the clue to my lack of success is in the name 'Boys' here) in the way Jack Frost had worked his magic; how crunchy the grass was underfoot, how the plants glittered in the morning sun (which, by the way, was so low in the sky it almost needn't have bothered getting out of bed) and how the veins on the leaves stood out in sharp relief with their ice highlights.

And then I thought; they're two and four years old. And they're Boys. What the hell are you playing at?

So we played a game of hide and seek or two, some football, they fought over who got to use which swing, and complained their hands were cold (which of course they would be if you won't wear your gloves, my darlings), before being driven back inside by the seasonal freezing temperatures.

Not before, however, we passed a cyclist sitting on his bike with his feet still on the pedals, leaning against a post-box with his eyes closed.


Boy #1, at the top of his voice: Is he DEAD, mama?

Me (struggling not to laugh too loudly): No, I think he's just taking a rest.

Boy #1, not bothering to lower the volume: But why is he sleeping out HERE?

Me (as the cyclist sighs heavily, props his eyelids open and wobbles off into the distance): I think he's probably just feeling a bit under the weather.


How do you explain 'hangover' to a 4 year old, by the way?

8 comments:

  1. I reckon you're excused a dvd every day in the lead up to christmas. How else would you get stuff done?!!
    Love the hungover cyclist. No, I don't have a clue how to explain that to a 4 and 2 year old!

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  2. Dvd's are de rigeur before dec 25th, everyone knows that!
    WHY did that cyclist get out of bed on such a frosty morn?!
    Pigx

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  3. Wonder what all that yelling sounded like inside the cyclist's head?

    Are children precious....and good for a smile too...

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  4. Hi Tracey, you're right, I know you're right, it's just that 1950's mother at the back of mind tutting away that freaks me out...

    Pig, thanks for your support on the DVD's. Mary Poppins, Robot, A Muppet Christmas, Madagascar and Finding Nemo are all lined up for the next few days. As for the cyclist, who knows why he succumbed to such madness? But if I were him, I would have taken the tube. Or maybe a bus. Yes, a bus, definitely - at least on a bus you can get off more quickly if the 10 beers from last night decide to make a repeat appearance.

    Aims, LOUD, I imagine. But he was smiling weakly as he wove his way around the corner. Maybe it made a good story for him too...

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  5. Boys & Ice. Find lots of frozen puddles & jump on them. Unfortunately, breaking ice on our biggest puddle meant relining the pond the following summer...

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  6. Thanks for the warning, GPM. Ponds off limits - I will remember that...

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  7. Lovely Potty Mummy,

    Have a lovely Christmas and New Year. I will be missing you in Wales.

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  8. Thanks DM; Happy Christmas and New Year to you too. I will be in the wilds of Somerset - there maybe slightly more people than sheep there (unlike in lovely Wales), but sometimes, who can tell the difference?

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