When the boy’s away…Procrastination and tantrums.

Summer is here and so we are going away on holiday.
I have LOADS of writing to do on top of packing for the holiday and parenting so my parents kindly offered to take Seth for a few days so that I can get everything done.

I’ll be honest, I have am missing him  SO much but by crikey, this week has been a week of what I imagined parenting would be like.
You know, how you imagine parenting before you become one.

On Saturday I helped out at the school fair then a few of us went and spent a couple of hours in the pub. Aoife behaved nicely and played with her friends, us adults had nice conversation without it being scattered with “No Seth”, “put that down”, “come back here”.
IT WAS AMAZING.
Had Seth been there, Rory would have spent the whole time chasing him around and we’d have had to leave after half an hour.

At home I’ve been getting on with work without someone deleting folders or making my screen turn upside down. When I’ve left the room my phone hasn’t been launched across the room.
I’ve not stood on Lego or tripped over a train track.
I have missed him so much but I have LOVED this grown up, peaceful and calm parenting!
This is what I imagine everyone else’s parenting life is like.

While he is with Grandma and Grandad having the time of his life, the novelty is fast wearing off here.

So as I sit here procrastinating and wondering whether this ‘to-do’ list will ever be ‘to-done’ I have decide to create a list!

Reasons Seth threw tantrums before he went away.

• I came in from the kitchen without food.
  It wasn’t time for food. He didn’t need food. He tried pushing me back into the kitchen, it didn’t work.
• I had the audacity to offer him a cracker as a snack.
  He doesn’t like crackers.
• The edge came off the cracker. I couldn’t fix it. He threw it. I could fix it even less.
  I went to the kitchen to ‘fix’ the cracker but the whole packet was broken – cheers Jacob’s!
• I told him I would make dinner, I went to the kitchen and got it all cooking. I went back into the living room to wait. Big mistake.
• I didn’t put on the programme he wanted. I didn’t KNOW the programme he wanted.
  He just kept saying “No” and “Oh Come ON!” so I took a guess with something he usually likes to watch.
• I put on the programme he asked for. Yet I was still, very wrong.
  He asked for Masha and the Bear. I put on Masha and the Bear. He threw himself to the ground like he’d been shot and proceeded to tantrum.
• I only let him watch the end credits of Big Hero 6 12 times.
  Seriously. He get the DVD, he puts it in, he makes me go to scene selection, he chooses the end credits and watches them ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Then we do it all again. I have to cut him off eventually. That upsets him greatly.
• When he asked me to play trains I touched a train.
  I know, the audacity! It turns out that when he said “play trains mummy” he actually meant ‘just sit on the floor there and watch, DO NOT TOUCH’.
• I wouldn’t let him watch the film he wanted.
  I’m pretty flexible generally but I don’t really think Gascoigne  was age appropriate viewing for a three year old. Or 21 Grams for that matter. Seth strongly disagreed with my opinion.
• He can’t fly
  Try as he might he can’t fly. He’s tried a running start, he’s tried a jumping start and he’s tried a hopping start. None of them worked. The end result was him in a heap in the middle of the floor sobbing “But I can’t, I can’t, I just can’t fly”.
  
  I can’t wait for this little face to get home.