Last week I wrote that we love to escape the city and explore the beautiful cities and countryside around Milan. There are plenty of weekends where we stay at home too though, because someone's ill, the weather is not playing ball, we have no money, or we're all just feeling plain old lazy.
Often these weekends feel like a bit of a battle. I wish they didn't because after a whole week at work I want to be able to enjoy the time I have with my family, but the truth is that we get cabin fever very quickly. Plus, the Bean's wishes don't exactly match up with our own.
- for example -
Mummy and Daddy: sleep
The Bean: test the bed for bounciness, the light switches for clickiness and the toys for banginess (at 5:40 AM, obviously)
Mummy and Daddy: grocery shopping
Bean: playground
Mummy and Daddy: lunch
Bean: TV
Mummy and Daddy: TV
Bean: Boing boing boing weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee off the sofa
Mummy and Daddy: walk to the park
Bean: Oh I think I'd like a snooze now
We've long since accepted that the Bean is essentially the boss and that the weekend is in no way our own. Those Milanese parents who take their brood on social dinner dates and look fabulous doing so? Not us.
We have, however, found a survival strategy of sorts: split shifts.
One parent gets up at silly o'clock and the other has a lie-in (although that's getting increasingly hard, as I seem to have given birth to a foghorn rather than a child). One parent stops the Bean from self-destructing while the other showers. One parent entertains while the other clears up the fallout from a meal.
And this is how we often find our groove - though not without the help of gallons of tea as well, of course - and actually enjoy the Bean's company during these ordinary days at home.
It takes a lot to entertain him, but once you've struck toddler gold, it's priceless. I can never tell what will capture his imagination. Today it most certainly wasn't colouring pencils. It was cotton buds. Plus a very patient daddy who turned him into a porcupine. When I see them playing together like this, I end up feeling glad we decided to just mooch at home.
Often these weekends feel like a bit of a battle. I wish they didn't because after a whole week at work I want to be able to enjoy the time I have with my family, but the truth is that we get cabin fever very quickly. Plus, the Bean's wishes don't exactly match up with our own.
- for example -
Mummy and Daddy: sleep
The Bean: test the bed for bounciness, the light switches for clickiness and the toys for banginess (at 5:40 AM, obviously)
Mummy and Daddy: grocery shopping
Bean: playground
Mummy and Daddy: lunch
Bean: TV
Mummy and Daddy: TV
Bean: Boing boing boing weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee off the sofa
Mummy and Daddy: walk to the park
Bean: Oh I think I'd like a snooze now
We've long since accepted that the Bean is essentially the boss and that the weekend is in no way our own. Those Milanese parents who take their brood on social dinner dates and look fabulous doing so? Not us.
We have, however, found a survival strategy of sorts: split shifts.
One parent gets up at silly o'clock and the other has a lie-in (although that's getting increasingly hard, as I seem to have given birth to a foghorn rather than a child). One parent stops the Bean from self-destructing while the other showers. One parent entertains while the other clears up the fallout from a meal.
And this is how we often find our groove - though not without the help of gallons of tea as well, of course - and actually enjoy the Bean's company during these ordinary days at home.
It takes a lot to entertain him, but once you've struck toddler gold, it's priceless. I can never tell what will capture his imagination. Today it most certainly wasn't colouring pencils. It was cotton buds. Plus a very patient daddy who turned him into a porcupine. When I see them playing together like this, I end up feeling glad we decided to just mooch at home.
