Where's your daddy gone (where's your daddy gone)?

[ailbhe]

So Rob and I parted about 9:30 am, with much hugging and no tears. He headed off to the train station to get the bus to the airport, and the children and I went to Meeting.

While I still had a handy co-parent I made sure to have a bath and wash my hair - though Astrid did share it, but you can't have everything - and a cup of hot coffee, which was lovely. That was good because my next hot drink was at story-time at 8:30pm.

After Meeting we went to H&M and bought swimming costumes (Linnea's is too small and Emer's is too handmedown) and Really Big Knickers and a pair of shorts for Linnea. Then we went tried to find somewhere to eat but it proved almost impossible. We ended up eating mank and yuk in the Broad St Mall.

We popped in to see Dani and Geoff on the way home and got my Literary Gifts Co order and then home for boring stuff, like laundry and housework. There wasn't anything handy for dinner but the leftover sausages and burgers from the barbecue "needed using up" so we did. That involved ketchup so the children were pleased.

We ran the Roomba a few times and I learned how to empty its bucket and untangle its brushes. Then, because the floors were clear, I washed them. The house is nicer now.

At bedtime I tidied the girls' room and promised to run the Roomba in there first thing in the morning. We also have a deal about when I will assume their things are no longer wanted and stick them in the charity shop. And I've banned them from taking books from our shelves; if Linnea wants Asterix or Calvin books she will have to buy or borrow them.

Astrid went to sleep a little after the girls' bedtime - which took three stories, so I'm glad I insisted on bringing a cup of tea with me.

Then everyone got up again and I gave them drinks and snacks and got the nappies on to wash, and made myself a cup of tea. Now everyone is back in bed; I've been up to Linnea again to do a relaxation exercise, involving breathing deeply and slowly and visualising being on the swing at night. It seemed to be working. I tried to explain that the right amount of breathing keeps your brain calm and too much makes it fizz; I hope it worked. She had some sort of idea that a deep breath makes your tummy go inwards but we figured that out in the end.

Now I've had a hot cross bun and I'm about to drink my tea. It's cold, but that's ok.

Comments

[bens_dad]

She had some sort of idea that a deep breath makes your tummy go inwards.

She isn't entirely wrong. Some deep breaths do move your chest up and your tummy in.

[rosefox]

And I've banned them from taking books from our shelves; if Linnea wants Asterix or Calvin books she will have to buy or borrow them.

I'm curious as to your reasoning behind this. (Totally not judgmental. Just curious.)

She had some sort of idea that a deep breath makes your tummy go inwards

A lot of people do this. It's usually the first thing a voice teacher has to correct.

[ailbhe]

Shredded books, is our reasoning. She can't concentrate on keeping the books in reasonable shape - most of the pages still in the book itself, loose pages kept whole rather than idly shredded and chewed up - while she's reading, so she can't read our books, basically.

[rosefox]

Ahhh. Sometimes I forget how young they still are!

[ailbhe]

She's seven and a quarter.

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

I don't like cold tea :( Have discovered though that cold latte tastes ok.

How long is Rob away for? Andy is prob away next week, but only for 2 days.

[juliet]

When I was a very little bit older than Linnea (about 8, I think), I found a book about relaxation that included the sort of exercise where you tense each muscle in turn (starting from the feet) & then relax it, all the way up. I found it v useful for going to sleep then, & still use a variation on it now; and have found it good at other times for being able to consciously relax my muscles. So that might be another option to suggest to her if the swing visualisation doesn't work / stops working?