Monday 30 June 2008

Slip-sliding away

Boy #2 has a cold. Everything is covered with a fine layer of the evidence of this; the house, the car, his brother, and me. Husband has wisely retreated to Mother Russia for the next couple of days to escape Ectoplasm Central (think Bill Murray in Ghostbusters just after he's been 'slimed', and you can imagine why that is), so it's just me, some Karvol, and a strategically placed box of Kleenex Balsam tissues in every room to cope with the snot.

Every time I sat down today, I discovered where Boy #2 had inadvertently left a sticky calling card as it attached itself to my skirt, t-shirt, or most memorably this evening, my arm. This was particularly unfortunate timing as this afternoon the charming man from Boy #1's second-hand school uniform shop called round to help kit him out ready for Big School. I spent the 45 minutes he was here frantically wiping surfaces and grabbing piles of pristinely laundered jumpers from him before they got contaminated by touching the wrong part of the sofa.

Matters were not helped by Boy #1 deciding that he was in fact a pirate, and initially checking each element of his new outfits for suitability in cutlass-carrying and mast-climbing. However, once he discovered the joy of racing off to the full-length mirror to check each new item of clothing as it went on, Pirate Jim (not his real name, obviously. Pirates never use their real names, I'm told) morphed into a small boy who really was quite excited about the whole uniform thing, even though he hadn't planned on showing it.

13 comments:

  1. A sad day when they get their uniform (gulp).

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  2. They suddenly seem SO grown up! Totally understand the "slimed" experience. I particularly like the Littlest's "Huggie" call and then the surreptitcious swipe of the face against my jumper/T-shirt/top thingy - I now know to wear my body warmer when he has a cold as it's a wipe down ....

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  3. I know Frog. I had to make a concerted effort not to go all misty...

    Tattie, I may have to invest in one of those body warmers, though for the time being I am just considering cutting a hole in the middle of our wipe-down table cloth to make a poncho...

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  4. How I wish we had uniforms. It would make school days so much easier.

    Hope boy 2 is better quickly!

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  5. Hi there.
    Hope you don't mind, but have tagged you for a Top 5 blogs of the Month game.
    You just need to name 5 posts you've enjoyed with a link to them, then tag 5 more people to do the same.
    If you could give me some linky love too, and then let the 5 people you've tagged know that they are 'it' and also to link back to you.

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  6. Thanks Ped. And on the uniform thing - well if you could see it, you might think it a mixed blessing. Still, it'll be character building, that's what I tell myself...

    Hi Tara, thanks, and will get onto it asap

    Aims, you just about summed it up!

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  7. My youngest kept pulling my hand in the playground yesterday saying 'bogey mummy, bogey over there'.. 'yes darling' I said dismissively.

    When I finally followed her to see what all the fuss was about I found there was indeed a bogey of ginormous proportions delicately placed on the bars of the climbing frame which was - surprisingly - empty.

    I've got to pick up my uniform too this week. Double gulp.

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  8. Oh I hope he feels better soon.

    Uniforms...yeah, we don't have them over here. We'd rather our kids be unruly and rude and wear whatever they want.

    Unless they're Catholic -- then they wear uniforms.

    Really I think the uniforms are nice and I do wish more schools here did that. It would get rid of all the shirts with dirty sayings and jeans with holes. I hope you can make it through this first uniform try-out stage OK.

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  9. BM, they're so charming at this age, don't you think? I've lost count of the number times Boy #1 has called me urgently into his bedroom after lights out, sounding as if the roof was falling in, only to be presented with the same thing. Girls are no different, then?

    Hi J's Mommy, still a snot-fest I'm afraid. I hope the nursery this morning has plenty of tissues... As for the uniforms, as per my comment to Ped, you should see Boy #1's. It's charming, but a little - eccentric... Still better than ripped jeans and rude t-shirts though, I agree.

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  10. Potty, my girls think it's hilarious to not only leave their bogies lying around the house for me to find but also to deliberately 'pass wind' and then dissolve into fits of giggles.

    Girls aren't supposed to do that are they? Where am I going wrong?

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  11. So sweet about Pirate Jim and his uniform! I can just see him standing there ...beautifully done, PM

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  12. I think you may have to discuss this one with their father...

    And thanks, DD!

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