How was your day, dear?

[ailbhe]

Emer didn't come into my bed until after 7 am so I was much rested and refreshed when I woke. I got the front room almost totally tidied - including emptying out and sorting the toyboxes - and swept it clean, too. We had porridge with bananas and honey for breakfast. After breakfast I did tedious housework while they played, and then there was a hideous, terrifying crash, followed by Emer crying.

I went upstairs and found Emer had hurt herself - her head? - and was bleeding. Maybe from her mouth? There was blood on her fingers but no injuries on her fingers. I sat on Linnea's bed with Emer on my lap and realised Linnea was under the covers. Then I saw that Emer's chin was bleeding. She said Linnea had pushed her off the bed. Linnea was clearly hiding because she was afraid of having hurt Emer. Emer clearly thought Linnea had done it on purpose.

I soothed Emer enough that Linnea could explain to me what had happened and Emer was able to nod and hiccup agreement. Linnea and Emer had been dancing (they did some fabulous dancing this morning, actually) and Linnea had hurt her leg and sat down. Emer had climbed up to comfort her. They started playing with a pillow and Linnea pushed Emer off the bed with it. Emer hit her chin on the wood of the bedframe on the way down.

It bled like the proverbial stuck pig. Not alarmingly, really, just copiously. Emer has a plaster on her knee from yesterday - she fell over and there was a barely visible graze, so she insisted on a plaster. I offered her one today to help the bleeding stop and she said NO PLASTER MAMMY IT'S FOINE in a desperate wail. And then she didn't want to wear any of her clothes because she'd only get blood on them.

Eventualyl she agreed we could wash bloody clothes later and then she insisted on a top with buttons not over her head, which made sense, and it turns out that the only button-down shirts in the house are Rob's, so she wore one of his short-sleeved summer shirts. Which reached her heels.

But then we were able to go out.

We went to Lidl, with Linnea pushing the shopping trolley on the footpaths and pulling it across the roads, and bought lots of tedious things and a pair of wellies with yellow daisies on. This will be the first winter since I had a baby that I have wellies. It's Linnea's sixth.

Then we came home, put the groceries away, and had lunch. Then we went out again to the charity shops on one side of the street, and Tesco for rice milk (which they didn't have enough of) and tried ot go to more charity shops but somehow it was after four o'clock and they were all closed. Linnea was great in Tesco and comforted me when I got supermarket fury and wanted to cry ("Maybe if we go back the way we came we'll find the rice milk, we might have passed it and not seen it," she said).

Emer fell asleep in Tesco too and as we were leaving the heavens opened. This was inevitable, as I'd washed all my towels and hung them out thinking we'd be back before the rain started.

Emer slept through the rain thanks to an umbrella balanced on the buggy-top, and Linnea danced along the street in the puddles with her hood pushed down and her hair getting rattier and rattier and a big smile on. I suspect she may be my daughter; dancing in the rain is one of my Things.

We went to the Workhouse Coffee Shop then and invited our friend to dinner, and had drinks and cake, and Emer stayed asleep, and we came home and Emer woke up just as we entered the house.

Rob cooked dinner and put away my shopping and made me tea, and after dinner he started work on the kitchen again. The counter is a little high for Emer but playable with, and a higher counter will net more years play in the long run. It might be finished by Monday, including painting, if we're lucky and dedicated.

Emer is now very reliable with her toilet use, and Linnea seems to be dry at night (though that could be due to sleeping poorly, it's hard to say). Linnea and I have agreed that I won't be carrying wet sheets up and down the attic steps, so she has to be dry at night before she moves up there - given it's nothing like ready, this shouldn't be a problem. Also, she told Rob at bedtime that she's not going to chew the toothbrush I bought her today and then her next one can be an electric-lights one, which relates to a conversation she and I had a few weeks ago.

We may have crossed the line into Linnea-doing-things-for-personal-gain here. I've been waiting for years. Usually if there's a price for something she would go out of her way to demonstrate that she never wanted those damn grapes anyway and in fact if you paid her to take them away she'd squash them flat (yes, she destroyed things she got after being bribed with them even if she'd wanted them to begin with). Emer's much more... malleable.

Poor practice babies. They have such a hard life.

Next step: silver nail varnish for the nail-biter.

Comments

[nitoda]

I just want to thank you for posting this kind of record of your daily activities. I don't always read, but when I have time I do so enjoy being able to see a slice of your life and that of your little ones. :-)

[pauamma]

I suspect she may be my daughter;

Based on the available evidence, I'm sure she is. :-)

[clanwilliam.livejournal.com]

("Maybe if we go back the way we came we'll find the rice milk, we might have passed it and not seen it," she said).

And:

I suspect she may be my daughter; dancing in the rain is one of my Things.

I didn't need the second. I read the first and thought: "That's so Ailbhe."

[ailbhe]

I've been trying to work out *why* it's "so me" and can't; with your greater insight, O Jen, pls elucidate.

Also, I must try to Talk Typesetting with you soonish.

[piqueen.livejournal.com]

I once asked my mother why she thought she was so good at training her dog whilst we, as children, were totally wild and in some ways uncontrollable. She said "the dog doesn't mind being a dog". It's the most succinct description I've ever heard of what went on with me as a child.

[ailbhe]

No, no - she's just NAUGHTY. Ask anyone in the street. All I need is to be stricter.

[ailbhe]

"Or she might grow up into the kind of person who criticises strangers in public," as I once said... A couple of women nearby clapped.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I love this.

[1ngi.livejournal.com]

Those wellies sound very smiley. :)

[mrs-redboots.livejournal.com]

Does she help you pack the shopping trolley, too? thyme_slimy always did at that age, and it seriously was a help - and to this day, she's better at it than I am!

[ailbhe]

She did it herself, actually, with minimal help from me.

Sometimes she doesn't want to, and that's ok.

[(Anonymous)]

"No, no - she's just NAUGHTY. Ask anyone in the street. All I need is to be stricter."
It makes me SO HAPPY to know that this is sarcasm, with all that that implies!

I will never cease to admire your child-rearing abilities, with all my heart. You're my all-time child-rearing hero! :-)

Elaine

[ailbhe]

Check again in thirty years' time. My report card is only partially filled out so far.

[flybabydizzy.livejournal.com]

I agree. (mine are 20 & 23, and I scored FF)