Mummy at the School Gate

Finn came home from school yesterday, and was looking a little disconcerted and a little out of sorts.  He kept looking in his school bag, taking out his books and pencils then replacing them. "Whats up honeybum?" When I call him honeybum, he giggles and tells me I always get it wrong...but this time he wasn't giggling and something was amiss as he wasn't hearing me. Not listening and hearing are two different things in my book. "OHH (ala Ness)..wha's occurin'?"  Finn looked up, his eyes as big as saucers, with tears just filling the edge of the lids. "What will I do at University?" he asked "Will they make me do maths..only I'm not very good at maths. Or will I have to do spelling? I don't know what to do! " "Hey, hey...what's brought this on? I asked "Oliver and Jamie were talking about what they were going to do at University. Oliver's going to be a Doctor, and Jamie is going to be an actor.

Arriving home this afternoon, I was greeted with the joy and love....and that was from the dogs! Mimi was surprised to see me..."But mummy..I thought you weren't coming home for another sleep! I wanted to eat pancakes for tea. Miriam promised!"  "Sorry to disappoint you sweetie, shall I go again?" "Yes please mummy.  Can you come back a bit later?" Finn was even more upset. "But Mum, Dad was going to take me to get a pair of rugby boots tonight and we were going to eat pancakes!" Looks like I've scuppered their plans for this evening! What on earth makes them think that their carefully laid plans are going to be upset? Am I such an ogre that I would stop their little pleasures. BH was disappointed too! "Aww..Miriam was going to make her special pancakes...I was looking forward to them!"  So, it sounds like Miriam is a bit of a whizz in the kitchen...a talent I never knew she possessed. She hates the kitchen and seems

I'm off again tomorrow for a few days (again...but this happens frequently), and am running around like a loony trying to play catch up and prepare for the week ahead. I'll worry about Peewee and the soft furnishings, I'll worry about the homework and the nutritious food that they won't be doing or getting...but there's little I can do about it, so I try and forget about it and have a moan when I get back.  I've got the ironing to do and I'm sitting here writing my blog when I should be doing 1000 other things of more importance. BH keeps looking over my shoulder, asking me what am I doing and have I ironed his shirts yet...get lost! While I look forward to some "me" time, I really feel guilty about being so far away.  They all love me when I get home and I know that they will  miss me, cry and beat their chests wailing, "Mummy, don't go.  Do you have to go?". Well, the answer could easily be no, but unfortunately it's alw

I've just been told to eat more if I want to lose weight. Whilst I know that it's logical, the thought of eating more food is really playing havoc with my thought processes.  I've spent the past 20 odd years starving myself so that I could fit in to my size 10 skinnies and now surprisingly find that I can't even fit into a size 12! Beautiful Ben (my nephew), has asked me to keep a food diary for the next 7 days, so that he can analyse my eating habits and see where the problem lies.  He's told me that most people put on the unexplained weight due to stress or issues within the individual and can generally pinpoint the problems when looking at the body.  He's a devotee of Charles Poliquin, a gentleman who is a renowned strength coach. Never heard of him!  It seems that he's very popular amongst the athletic fraternity.  Now I don't want to be an athlete, but I'd like a little bit more energy....and be able to fit into those size 10 skinnies! Every

I missed their first day back to school, but left it in the very capable hands of BH and Miriam (the au-pair). I had made sure their clothes were laid out and their bags packed and all that was needed was a pre-school bath night and breakfast in the morning.  Not too difficult really...so why is that walking into the house this morning did it look like I'd been away for several years.  The kitchen resembled the aftermath of a tornado, and Peewee had assembled a various assortment of school clothing in his bed and was chewing happily on a trainer.  The house is empty bar the dogs, but I feel as though I'd trudged into Armageddon! I don't usually like to leave home for too long for fear that they'll have moved away without telling me....now I wish they had! I don't expect too much from Miriam.  I only have to open her door to freak out slightly.  I'm not even sure she's in the room when I peer in, for the piles of clothes on the floor which resemble several

No, I'm definitely not one of those mothers. I have enough on my plate without encouraging them to make collages out of the remnants of my wedding dress so that I can hang it on the wall. If they want to make something I send them to the after school club.  They proudly bring home their attempts, and I proudly display it in the kitchen for a month or two then it goes into their bedroom.  I know in years to come, I'll probably coo and marvel at their skills at a tender age, but at the moment it's more clutter to add to the clutter. I now have a clear plastic box for each of the kids.  The work they've done for the year goes in the box along with all their books.  When they leave home I reckon they'll be about 10 boxes a piece...which they will be taking with them!! Mimi, often asks if she can bake because as she says, "You're not very good at it, are you mummy?". Finn begs to go to the Bake Sale, because "There are mummies that bake cak

My sister phoned me yesterday with some sad news and some...well, good news (I think).  She's moving away for a while with husband. That's the sad news, because I know I'm going to miss her.   We're very close and she's my role model because of Ben. Ben is my beautiful nephew, who is sweet, shy, funny, clever...and dyslexic. He has overcome hurdles and worked incredibly hard to put aside his problems to get where he is.  He's focused, motivated and has developed his own strategies to overcome his difficulties and I am proud that he graduated from university this year with a Bachelor of Science!  No mean feat for someone with learning issues. Ben was diagnosed with dyslexia at 7 years old. Sis had a feeling that he was, because as she said "I showed him flash cards from when he was born, I bought him puzzle alphabets, and every educational toy I could lay my hands.  I sent him to Montessori nursery from the age of three, and do you know what his teacher s