Google is evil. However it does have a good side, as I proved yesterday in my search for the perfect pork belly recipe. I didn't actually use any of the recipes I found, but I got the general gist of what is usually done and then elaborated in my own special way. And oh my lord this pork belly was good. Crispy skinned slow cooked pork belly. The girls liked it too. I ate all the girls didn't. There is none left. It was absolutely sensational and I will be making it again.
Today the girls had their second orientation session at day care. The first ran for 2 hours and today's was 4 hours. We'd been working up to going to "school", particularly with Tabitha, and she seemed pretty excited about it. Lexi and I had had another long chat about the 'etiquette' for want of a better word when I go to pick her up.
We arrived at the centre and a similar thing happened as last time. Tabitha started crying even before we got in there. Great start. Again. We eventually made it through the door and thought it best to get Lexi sorted first, so we dropped her off at her room, and I was determined to get a "goodbye" today, even if I didn't get a kiss. Well, I did get a goodbye, but she didn't quite understand that she was saying goodbye to me, not to the people in the room. So she kept trying to follow me back out again. Brief visit that would have been. After several failed attempts leaving, I was finally able to go when one of the staff also reinforced the "you're staying here" thing.
Then it was Tabitha's turn. As we got into the room she goes to the meltdown commenced and she promptly dropped to the floor and tried to crawl through my legs and around the pram to get out. Oh yes, this is going supremely well. After a couple of minutes and a few more throwings onto the ground she finally stood up. It was already going better than the other day. And then the staff member spoke to her. And down she went again. Hmmm. So I knelt down beside her and pointed out a teddy bear in the corner, suggesting she should go and say hi to the bear. She seemed intrigued by that concept, enough so that I could go and sign her in and stealthily depart. As I was leaving I heard the squeal and I knew she had hit the deck again, but I didn't turn back and it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. There is something deep within a mother that can't stand her children feeling sad, hurt, upset, anything other than happy. The centre manager was in the hallway and reassured me that she would be okay and she would settle down and that it would be okay if I left. And I felt that all too familiar lump rising in my throat and turned and walked through the doors.
Angus had indicated he was feeling a little peckish so we opted to go home rather than straight to the shops, which had been the original plan. Angus somehow sensed that he had my undivided attention, so for the next few hours remained awake, alert, and somewhat clingier than usual, just wanting to be held and talked to. He wasn't terribly upset, just wanted mummy. So I actually got less done than usual which I found quite funny. We did venture to the shops briefly before picking the girls up, however because I hadn't made a list and I really need lists I forgot pretty well everything I needed to get and ended up getting more coat hangers. As you do.
Arriving at the centre to pick up the girls I went to see Tabitha first. I couldn't hear her as I walked through the front door so that was a positive. And when I got to her room everyone else was lying on their little mats and Tabitha was at the back of the room again, not lying down, but sitting, and not relaxed but not screaming. I saw her, she saw me, she stood up and said 'HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!' and ran over to me and started talking, quite a lot. But she was not unhappy, and she even said bye to everyone as we left.
This was going much better than the other day.
Now to get Lexi. Whereas the other day she was sitting drawing with one shoe on, today she was sitting drawing with one sock on, shoes in the backpack. Interesting. We didn't find the sock. It did take us close to five minutes to leave though. Numerous choruses of no no no no no no no followed, but there were no tears. I was rapt.
And as we walked through the corridor towards the front door Tabitha smiled and waved goodbye to everyone and Lexi also said bye. We got to the car, the kids all strapped in, and I smiled. We made it. We did it. And I even remembered to put the pram in the car (on Wednesday I got the kids in the car and went to start it and couldn't find my keys and then remembered they were on the pram and then remembered I had not in fact put the pram in the car yet. Lucky the keys were in it or it would have been flattened)
As we were driving out I said "girls I am so so proud of you, you have made mummy such a happy mummy" and Lexi said "ooooooh mummy I love you" and Tabitha said "I love yooooooouuuuuuuuuu" and I just about cried. Such good kids.
Then we get home this afternoon and they turn feral. Tabitha bit Lexi on the arm for no apparent reason, and when they were having a bath I quickly changed Angus only to return to find Lexi had a cup and was systematically removing all the water from the bath and tipping it onto the floor. That was not the limit of the feralness that had dictated the house for the afternoon, but it was the final feralness and I popped them all into bed super dooper early at 6.15pm. Tabitha took about 15 minutes before she fell asleep, and Lexi has just now fallen asleep, nearly an hour later. Ah well. They weren't terrifically upset, but obviously unimpressed that I had put them into bed earlier than usual.
Now comes the task of cleaning up the mess the house has found itself covered in. It was not a productive day by any stretch of the imagination, but I would much rather the house look like a bomb hit and the girls did well at day care than the house be spotless and know they were unhappy.
Full day Monday and we shall see how that goes. For now I'm going to grab a glass of vino, clean up, maybe watch a little of the idiot box and then crawl into bed, wondering what time master Angus will get me up as he is on a feeding frenzy of late.
It's funny how the days you get the least achieved are often the most exhausting........
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