Like many bloggers, I’ve used my inability to predict, understand or control the actions and thoughts of the bundle of excitement that is our 2.5yo daughter as a rich source of material to write about. Writing about my parental failure has allowed me to laugh at the times that instead be cause for frustration and reading other writers trials and tribulations has reminded me that other people are in the same boat as me or (I have admit it, even better) that some people have it much worse.
So unusually for this blog I have a story to tell about everything working out… fine. This post is here to remind me that occasionally, it all just works and those occasions are worth hanging in there for.
By 10:30am last Sunday we had woken, eaten and showered. We had split into teams, one in charge of hunting and gathering groceries for the week, the other responsible for entertaining miss 2.5 with scissors, paper and stickers. I got the scissors role, a minor promotion for me which quickly turned into a pants design session. (If you haven’t got the book I highly recommend it).
We’d wrapped presents (obviously we is my wife as I do not possess the fine motor skills necessary to do such tasks) and put on a frilly, twirly party dress (not actually me either) before getting into the car and driving to a first birthday party.
Apart from the smug glow that comes from actually arriving somewhere within 15 minutes of the the start time the party was being held at an amazing park 10 minutes from our house that we never knew existed. If the day ended right then and there we were ahead.
Parties are usually a bit dicey with us. Miss 2.5 historically needs a lot of watching and although good around children she knows, tends to be a bit overwhelmed around mass gangs of hyped-up kids. This day was different. My little girl has grown up just that little bit more and instead of clinging to mum or dad she happily found the bigger girl she knows and joined in with the party games. She ate cake pops (now that’s a Nobel prize in the making), chocolate and lollies and, unlike our imagined worst case scenarios, did not turn into a crazed, frothing sugar addict but rather just kept on enjoying her self.
We left at the end of the party without tears, weeing in the car seat or screaming the whole way home. We got back in the house and played for a while and before off she went for quiet time. Now seasoned readers of this blog will know that sleep is a mighty foe in the illiterate household and this day was no exception. She screamed and yelled for a good 40 minutes before settling down to talk to teddy and read her books gaining no sleep at throughout the howl process.
“So where’s the bit where it all works” you ask… well during this episode of banshee-like screaming, Mrs Illiterate Infant let me have an afternoon kip and I slept through the whole thing!
If your still with me after my session of gloating you should be asking “what’s the point of this post” (and how did you score the afternoon kip). As I said at the start, sometimes when you least expect it all just works and you have a good day (or three quarters of it – Miss 2.5 was a nightmarish combination of hunger and fatigue at dinner time) and on these days you realise that the stuff you think you know about your little one(s) has probably changed and needs to be updated.
So, has it just worked for you lately? When did you last have your preconceptions proved wrong and what do you do differently because of it.
Cheers to Kelly over at http://www.handmadetearsandtriumphs.com that gave me the idea to write this with her update about her weekend’s festivities and cheers to my good Swiss mate for a great morning.
Sharing with the brand spanking new essentiallyjess for IBOT
the illiterate infant 
Thanks champ! Insanely jealous that you got an arvo nap. Oh my god I would kill for one of those.
But I must say, my preconceptions are never proved wrong, because I am always right. It’s a hard life being a genuis, but, you know, someone’s gotta do it 😉
The crosses we bare 😉
Afternoon nap? What is this witchery you speak of!
Leaving a party without tears.. score! Not weeing in a carseat is just a bonus after that!
winning all round it sounds like!! 😉
#teamIBOT
Afternoon kips are SO underrated! x
I have been so catching a nap lately, it revives everything in us. I recently saw it described as a queen nap rather than a nanny nap! Maybe yours could be a king nap!
I like it – King of the house has a King Nap (as long as queen approves)
So far today’s not working well- I just burned a cheesecake that I’d committed to baking for my husband’s workplaces Melbourne Cup function. But that means there’s still three quarters of a day to get it right 🙂
But I definitely agree with having to update your expectations of your children. Sometimes they amaze me what they’re capable of!
I’m always worried that the slightest change in our (admittedly very loose) routine will mean that Squirm won’t sleep at all at night. He always proves me wrong 🙂
What an almost perfect day! Well done. We have been so busy lately and Dora is teething. The combination makes for some pretty awesome tanties.
While mine a terrors in the home, I am grateful that they are good on outings(probably just as happy to get out out the house as i am). But as always as soon as I say things like that, they use their mind reading powers to throw a spanner in the works.
Nothing better than an afternoon power nap! You lucky thing!
rare and VERY valuable
Before I started my blog I used to nap every single day – the moment the little ones were settled I’d pop myself down too. Now I’m at my desk ‘working’ for nap time. I miss naps!
Love it! As much as I love a self deprecating story, it is also wonderfully refreshing to hear about things going right.
Particularly on a day when I have my own banshee like behaviour. Wonder if I can score a nap somewhere….
Afternoon naps are a thing to be cherished even when your kids are tweens and teens as mine are. I’m afraid to say that in spite of my kids being home sick from school, they are behaving remarkably well, just in case I jinx myself.
Naps are for the weak! Says the woman who completely crashed out for 15 minutes on the lounge with a twin on each lap watching telly.
It’s great when it all works out. I do little fist pumps while no one’s around on those days 🙂
naps around here are like striking gold
although thanks to mum, i managed a lie down today – not so much a nap – but close
and i feel sssooooo much better from it
xx
I had chronic illness for much of Boyo’s toddlerhood and he was crazy busy mad all at the same time. Some days, I used to get my rest by lying on the floor and being a human climbing frame. At least I got to lie down!
Oh I dream of afternoon sleeps! Lucky you!
Gotta love the days when most things work out the way they should and not how they invariably do – down the tubes !!
Have the best week !
Me
Great for you! I have these wins often, or at least I think I do 🙂 I tend to look on the bright side. It definitely all changes around this age. Our little girl went from clinging at the playground to befriending strangers. It’s been awesome ever since. She is so social. Somehow the dads always seem to score the afternoon nap – is that a gross generalisation?
.. or clever strategy 😉
Oh don’t you just love those days! They come few and far between but when they come you are so entitled to a gloat:-)
Here’s to many, many more in the future.
Ever since they could walk my two have been a nightmare if I let them walk anywhere, one going in one direction and one the other. Neither holding my hand while walking with out major tantrums. Because of this I have always used the double pram to get them down our unit blocks stairs, out the front and into their car seats. But, on two occasions in the last week I have, against my better judgement, risked my sanity and walked them down. To my utter amazement they were so good. Both walking along with me holding a hand each. B1 waiting patiently by my side as I strapped her brother in, then walking around to the other side of the car holding my hand to get in herself. I can tell you I was one very happy mummy when it all went so smoothly. There is now the option not to lug the double pram with me every time I go out somewhere. (If I am going to someones house or a local, fenced in park we can walk down and then walk into the house/ park.)
They really are growing and learning all the time aren’t they 🙂
What a nice Mrs! Gosh you are lucky, when my hubby lets me have an afternoon nap and the toddler acts up he somehow always ‘accidentally’ wakes me up. Accidentally like he accidentally comes into the room and sits on our bed to cuddle him or read to him *grr*.