A Work In Progress

My tiny rebellion in an otherwise conservative life.

Came home with this instead...

This morning Grace took my engagement ring. I asked for it back a couple of times before she threw it at me then hit me.  I explained to her (using my best parent voice) that hitting is not okay and that she needed to apologise. She said no. I then explained (dialling up the sternness in my parent voice) that she could either apologise or go stand in the naughty corner. She chose the naughty corner. She got up, walked over and stood with her face to the corner. At which point I mimed to Chat "WTF???" and realised I had exhausted all of my (very limited) parenting toolkit to handle this situation. Even when I went over to talk gently to her and explain why I had been upset and offer a chance for a cuddle to apologise, she continued to choose the naughty corner. Chad, I think we have a stubborn little girl. Who on earth did she get that off???

. We headed to the beach this morning for a walk. Both Grace and Flynn had a ball. Flynn tried to get himself adopted by other families but eventually he agreed to join us. Grace headed straight for the water and loved splashing in the rock pools and then ran the full length of the beach. We've arrived home sandy, wind swept but happy from a lovely family morning. Life is good. PS Happy birthday to my darling Mum!! I love you soooo much.

Mopping the carpet. No pants. Regular Sunday night at our place.

When Grace gave up her dummy, (we told her it "broke"), her Papa happened to pop by for a visit. Since then Grace has said that Papa is the one who broke her dummy. Today she has taken it one step further. As a fan of singing, she is now starting to make up songs. Todays song  included the lyrics "Papa broke dummy". Poor Papa, being held responsible for something he didn't actually do. We do love you Papa

My beautiful 15 year old boy just got a clean bill of health from the vet. Yay! While he has his fair share of senior moments, he will always be my kitten. #furkidsforever

Do you know what Grace calls me? Daddymum. I'm getting flash backs to when my mum used to call for me, but would go through the cat, the dog and my sister's name before getting to mine. Thanks Grace. I know my place in the world.

Today I got to spend time with my nephew. Thomas is 12 and I adore him. I have been trying to find an activity that a 12 year old boy and a 40 year old woman would both enjoy, and came up with seeing The Blue Man group at the Civic Theatre. I'd seen them in Las Vegas, so knew that it would be great. Thomas and I headed into town and shared burgers before the show. We chatted about loads of things and I enjoyed hearing how he sees the world. He loved the show (phew!) and I loved spending one on one time with him. Afterwards I suggested we grab an ice cream and we headed into a fancy gelato shop. I order single scope each as we were still pretty full up from lunch, but when the cones arrived they were huge! Thomas and I found it hilarious and were laughing about how on earth we where going to get through them. And then it happened as we walked to the car. I licked mine, and the ice cream landed on the pavement. It was a like a cartoon seeing it splatted on the ground. Cue more ...

Saturday started out with swimming. We had a new teacher this week and boy was she tough!! Grace DID NOT like the new regime and was pretty pissed at me for insisting she get dunked under. The teacher suggested maybe someone else take Grace in the pool next time as it might make her less clingy (underlying message is Mum is being too soft). I would be fine with that but no volunteers to replace me yet. Later that day, Grace and I headed off to stay with her "Geeze and Papa" so Chad could have a boys night at our place. Grace kept asking to go home to see daddy. At one point she even packed up her toys and said bye and tried to head to the car. Bless. Grace was supposed to sleep in her own bed, but I'm lying here in a double bed with a small girl taking up 90% of the space. Whether she was cold or scared, I not sure, but I don't mind. Nice being needed, even if only as a hot water bottle.