This kid.

He is the youngest of five and knows very well that his is a privileged position. We both love the days that he’s home from preschool and we hang out together. These are the days he tells me, “Mummy, it’s just you and me and a cup of tea.”

He was sick with a cold last week, so there was lots of staying home together to read books and play games. He sleeps in his own bed, but only when we sneak him in there, usually after he’s fallen asleep on the sofa either sprawled across my lap or his dad’s. We should really start getting him to go to his own bed at the same time as his siblings – but those late evening times are so sweet and he is our baby so we’ll probably keep them going just a bit longer!

He expressed a concern about this to me one night a couple of months back. He was snuggling in against me as I sat up in bed starting off a scarf for his next eldest brother. Then he sat bolt upright, “I have to tell you something Mummy. I don’t know what happens. Every night I go to sleep and then I disappear away from you and Daddy, I don’t know how I do that”. He didn’t seem worried about this mystery of life – just very puzzled 🙂

For breakfast he loves Weetbix, or, on Saturdays, porridge made by Peter. The rest of the time he’ll eat cheese and vegemite sandwiches, sushi (nori) rolls, fruit, eggs, rice cakes, or sausages. That seems a really limited range to us; all our other children have been willing to eat anything, or at least give everything a try. This one, not so much. Apples are his favourite thing – he would eat five a day if we let him. Apples and lollipops.

This week I’ve started keeping a time log. I’m hoping to get some ideas of how to fit in the things I want to do, while making sure I get plenty of rest and other things I need. So far the main problem I can see, not surprisingly, is that my log shows lots of driving the children around – 2-2.5 hours a day. That doesn’t include any work commuting yet, so it might rise by the end of the week too.

Hopefully I can shave that down a bit but I should probably start looking for some good audio books or podcasts or better music to use in the car. Usually, if I’m with the children we will chat all together and that’s fine, but sometimes the overall mood in our car is, let’s say, not exactly conducive to family bonding. If I’m stuck doing all this driving, and some of it’s cranky car time, I may as well make the experience a bit more enjoyable!