Splatterattack

10Sept Mondayblip

A full day looking after the boys by myself - it has been a while! Started well, with the coffee machine packing in! The light came on, but nothing happened.... almost disastrous, even if it was only making decaf. I dug out the cafetiere instead and brewed it in there. It wasn't awful.

Last night was dreadful though. I eventually gave up trying to settle Charley in order to get out of bed, and attempted to go to sleep instead but he STILL couldn't settle linger than a few minutes and in the end couldn't even fall asleep so I scooped him up and headed downstairs as I was SO HUNGRY and thought Ben could do with some uninterrupted sleep. And there was Steve! I thought he was still out helping the neighbours move in! Evidently not... Apparently he'd been up twice, even touched my shoulder, and asked if we were ok. I'd been completely unaware - he'd ou managed to come up the few moments when I must have sucessfully drifted off! Anyway Charley was all smiles for Steve, so I had a huge carby supper and felt much better. Charley slept pretty fitfully all night though, and I'm wondering if he's also suffering from caffeine withdrawal.

Over breakfast, Ben started telling me how he'd fallen off a boat. He was really insistent, to the point where I was wracking my brains trying to remember any boats we'd been on that he might have fallen off. But he carried on: he'd fallen off a boat but I wasn't with him, I was back on the stones (the beach). He had to swim and swim! But Daddy was with him. He put his dive costume on and they had to swim after the boat, but they couldn't catch the boat up. So they swam and swam and went to an island where there was snacks!

I think it was a dream. I asked him if it was and he said yes. So that's that. Amazing dream though!!

Steve got dressed up and headed off into London for PLASA today, to see if he could get any business. I spent the morning trying to get business cards designed ready for ordering, and making more brownie cupcakes - I'm to muster up courage tomorrow and take them round for the new neighbours. Then it was lunchtime.

Ben and I talked over lunch about school (it is still preschool this year, but I keep referring to it as just school). He said he didn't want to go. We talked some more about how amazing school was, that it was set up just for children to go and play and explore and learn stuff, different from home where it's not just for play, but Mummy also has to work and look after the house and Charley. I said I wished I was his age, and could go to his school! He thought about this. I said I'd come to school with him. He said ok, if I stayed he wouldn't cry. I said ok. We talked some more, about how he's bigger now, that there might be some smaller kids starting who might miss their mummies, and that he could maybe play with them and show them stuff, and help them to not miss their mummies quite so much. He thought this was a good idea. He evdn said the bigger boys might need that too. Then he said he was going to be happy! But he still wanted me to stay. I said ok. And then when we got to school, he gave me a kiss and ran straight in!! Gotta love that boy. Glad we talked about school during lunch though.

Charley and I had a date with some paint this afternoon and I was HUGELY looking forward to it! So glad that Ben had gone into school without a fuss, and that Charley had slept and eaten already. We found a roll of sugar paper and Charley helped me use most of a roll of masking tape to tape eight pieces down in the kitchen. We painted, Charley wasn't exactly instantly smitten but it wasn't a bad introduction to paint! Painting was followed by a cleanup in the shower, followed by a much needed nap for Charley. And I managed to drop my phone on his head too, which he was a bit fed up about... There's more pictures over on the blog if you're interested!

We were almost very late picking Ben up from school, thankfully they keep the doors open for fifteen minutes to allow for stragglers like me (they very agreeably blame babies for filling nappies just as they are about to leave to collect siblings); got home and after taking his shoes and socks off and happily running about on the still wet painted papers Ben demolished a whole sandwich and half a banana. The boy who seems to barely eat usually! Charley finished off the banana and discovered he likes salami, so they were then happy to play as they'd eaten.

Steve came home having had a not very productive time at PLASA but he's made some contacts and I think he'll be off to Pinewood for more networking next week!

Bolognese for dinner. Why do I always manage to do a bolognese night after Charley's had a bath?! He's getting the hang of spaghetti though. Actually ate some of it! Gagged on it when it did its trick of being half down your throat and half still hanging out of your mouth, but kept trying. AND my camera returned during dinner (hurrah!) so Steve took pictures of Charley!

Steve's out at the second prayer meeting of the week tonight so it was a joint bedtime for the boys again. Dosed Charley up on calpol to go to bed. We're both full of cold as well as being decaffeinated, so I'm hoping it helps him settle a bit easier this evening.