|
Saturday 20 October 2001
Yesterday Pea
and Bee came over
for a girlie-girl lunch, although the little mini-peas
were male infiltrators and kept us all highly amused for the
afternoon. It is very (very very) difficult to keep a straight,
disapproving face when a wee lad piffs a soft juggling ball
at the back of his mother's head... We all had to turn our
faces away and stifle laughs into palms while Pea told him
(in her sternest, most impressive Mum voice) to sit down and
watch the Wiggles like a good boy.
I learnt a couple of important small child
lessons yesterday. One is no matter how well you think you
have "baby-proofed" your lounge room, little fingers
will find their way into tv cabinet doors only to be squished
by elder brothers, tissues are very fun to throw around and
vegemite makes for an interesting couch cover pattern. Much
more importantly I realised how hard and sharp and dangerous
everything is in an average lounge room. Little heads can
(and inevitably will) bump against furniture corners, my cupboards
are full of detergents, the pantry is full of glass jars (filled
with things like lentils that sound great when shaken like
a maraca) and window panes are at small, headslamming height.
Another important lesson was that according
to a 3 year old tuna is stinky, celery is yucky, toast is
good when it's not hot and with butter and kneadable art erasers
are not very edible (but it is worth trying a bite).
The final lesson is that the most not
allowed thing in the house will be the most desired.
Yesterday I shut my bedroom door because I was scared the
little tykes might find something embarrassing to reveal to
my lovely friends and immediately this meant that every time
we weren't watching, one of the boys would disappear down
the hall and start quietly turning the door handle... another
example of the same phenomenon with a different child was
the last time my friend Anniebeans brought over her little
Raffy I told him he wasn't allowed to play with a small green
toy turtle I own because his legs were in danger of falling
off. Of course, I had a battle on my hands convincing him
there were other things that were much more interesting...
As a result I have this great idea with my future potential
kids; when I want to feed them broccoli (cabbage, parsnips,
brussel sprouts etc) I will put it in a pot on top of the
fridge and say in warning lowered tones "Nooo, you are
absolutely not allowed to eat broccoli, you might break it"
and then presto! broccoli will be their favourite food. You
think that will work?
I love Pea's kids... they are great little
characters. I couldn't take my eyes off them all day. Link
|
