Sunday, March 22, 2009

Give me sunshine...

I tell you, this weather has knocked me flat.

Friday I woke up with a streaming, hacking cold and was late for playdate #1 of a bouquet of playdates. My lovely neighbour said 'Never mind, drop him over with us and get ready on your own time' and so half an hour later I was rushing out of the house clutching fruit and a blanket and a football to where she was sitting in the centre of a small hive of parents on blankets, surrounded by a swarm of toddlers including my own, who hadn't noticed I was missing.

We ate and chatted and the kids rolled about in the grass and the sun, unbelievably, beat down. A couple of the Spud's best mates were there including Jacob (who the spud calls Jpeg) and Jpeg's scooter. As I am a Bad Mother it hadn't occurred to me to bring the spud's scooter and so as naptime rolled around and the spud had to say goodbye to Jpeg and his scooter we had much screaming and begging.

My plan was to hustle him into the house, darken his room and lash him to his bed with promises of 'scooter later'; however in about three seconds he had collected his scooter and was standing by the door wearing a big smile which I didn't have the heart to wipe off - I figured that an extra half an hour of scooting would make for more nap. Bollocks.

The second we got as far into the park as the picnic spot he was all 'Buggy! Buggy! No scooter! No scooter!' and so once again we struggled home, me laden with the scooter plus a toddler who had lost the use of his legs, if not his lungs. By the time I had parked his scooter in his room however he was already in the buggy saying 'outside! outside! outside!' I sighed, opened the door and hoped I could wheel him to sleep.

Oh the grand old Mum of Spud, she walked ten thousand steps, we buggied up to the top of the hill and we buggied down again... and when we were up we were up, and when we were down we were... well we never actually 'went down'. We saw the ducks, the trains, the bikes... 45 minutes later and his next playdate was ringing saying that they were in the park early, were we about? We hit the playground and by the time we got home it was 5pm and he had been outside since 10:30 and so, nearly, had I.

The rest of the weekend has been much the same although we did get a nap yesterday. Endless sunshine and playdates, it's like spud heaven here. The best thing of all is that he's managed to sleep through every night and I haven't slept this well in months.

Happy Spring, everyone!

10 comments:

Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings said...

Oh you are so weak...just like me. I would have been back out there too and exhausted to boot. I hope he went to bed early for you and you were able to get some rest.

Jonathan can now go all day without a nap too. It is extremely frustrating and a disaster at night when he's totally wiped but doesn't want to admit it.

At least you are having nice weather!

Anonymous said...

I am so glad we are over this stage! Of course we are now on to a more tiresome and troublesome stage, but in different ways.
Does it ever stop I wonder?

Mary T said...

Oh lordy, I do empathise. We have a fine selection of scooters and bikes and ride-ons all of which end up being carried by us weary parents, or strapped on to the pushchair in some way.

Michelle said...

Hope you are feeling better Sparx! You are a real trooper to keep up with your Spud outdoors and at playdates when you're not feeling 100% yourself. But hooray for sunshine and tired little boys at the end of a fun day togehter!

Jen said...

You are lucky to have so many friends to have play dates with! Trying to plan one around my friends schedules is like a calculus equation sometimes.

Sparx said...

Jonny's Mommy - yes he did - but has been a nightmare ever since - ack.

Tara - apparently it never stops... this is what my mother tells me anyway - and she hearkens back fondly to the toddler years!

Mary T - that's EXACTLY what happens to us!!

Michelle - indeed, hooray for that!

Jen - I am lucky - comes from living in a high-density baby neighbourhood!!

Helen + ilana = Hi said...

When you were up you were up ....... gawfaw! Up is all you will be during the day from now on.... naptime will be a remembered joy of the past. But wait ......what have we now..... teenagers who sleep until noon. Better Than Naps!

Seriously.

cactus petunia said...

I love how you said "we did get a nap yesterday"...sounds like you BOTH needed it.
Happy spring!

DJ Kirkby said...

Happy spring to you too. I am joining you in the bad parent race as I keep forgeting to bring N3S's bike to the playground so he can practice riding it and now even the kid about 3 years younger than him on our street can ride his bike while N3S still can't manage it! I am a baaaaaaaaad parent!

Sparx said...

Helen - you say the truth, old friend, you say the truth indeed...

Cactus - and yet, sadly I didn't actually nap! Doh!

Oh, let's share the bad parenting badge... if you take it to the playground you'll just have to carry it back (!!)