Monday 4 October 2010

Early Mornings and Rainy Days

My baby likes to start his day as soon as he can, we thought it was the light of the early rising sun at first but on holiday with only material between us and the new day he would stay a'snoozing til after breakfast time.  In fact I threatened to pitch a tent in the garden when we got back if it meant I could sleep til the last possible moment before the alarm.   He continued to be kinder to me in the mornings for a while after our holiday, good job really because we left the tent in a bin bag in north Devon so would have struggled to put it up out back.  However gradually those beautiful blue eyes have begun opening at the crack or even before dawn again, it is still dark now so the light can not be blamed.

I have spent many of these early mornings trying to persuade him that he in fact is still tired, gently plied him with a bottle in the dark and snuggled down in the big bed occasionally able to grab an extra 20 min snooze but more often 20 minutes of frustrated lullaby's in turn disturbing the sleeping Daddy.  The two of us each then facing our own working day with heavy eyes and a little bad tempered.


So this week I tried a new tact and wow I would never have thought it, I actually like mornings.  I like that there is time to sit and drink a cup of tea whilst watching Max alert and comforted by milk enjoying his toys in the front room, funnily enough he prefers the noisy ones first thing! I like that there is time for all the things that need doing to get us out the door in the mornings and then some extras.  I can leave the house tidy and not the bombsite that the family whirlwind creates at breakfast, I can even run the hoover round so I don't have to swim through hair when I get home from the school run or whatever other appointments I so often have to keep.   I like that Daddy appreciates his extra undisturbed sleep.  I love hearing the pad pad pad of Molly's footfalls as she sleepily makes her way down for breakfast of her own accord with out having had to be dragged out of bed.  Everything so much more relaxed all just from going with the flow instead of fighting it.
It's been a miserable week weather wise and that can sometimes make days miserable in other ways.  Everyday tasks are so much more difficult in the wet, having to handle a sopping buggy in and out of the car, growing extra muscles on the arm that pushes as the other is occupied fighting with the wind for the shelter of the brolly.  The car windows steaming up so much more quickly because of the damp we all bring to the inside.  The muck on the floor that no matter how much everyone wipes their feet or removes their shoes still appears, especially when there are a thousand bags of shopping to bring in from the car, guaranteed that there are no spaces outside the front of the house.

In all this though I have surprised myself in my out look and I find I am taking more pleasures!  I hate to sound all preachy and make out that I never feel bad anymore I do of course I do,  But I never seem to forget even in my worst moods how fundamentally happy I am and grateful and blessed.

Rainy days this last week have bought with them mornings spent drinking tea snuggling sleeping babies whilst watching a good film.  Taking shelter at a friends sharing lunch and catching up, with max proving me right and working his new boots impressing the ladies already.


Therapy sessions full of advice and tools on how to help Max develop communicativly, watching him with his therapist and seeing how far he's come and I hadn't even realised.
Welcoming new friends into our home and life to share the joys and challenges of family life with an extra chromosome, bringing with them light on a dark and dismal day.

Huddling under the umbrella in the playground, pausing to accept invitations from school for parents evening and to an assembly to celebrate Molly's achievements already this term.

Walking the dog on these wet days is never a chore I relish the thought of but once out it becomes much less of a chore and more of a pleasure that I would never have shared with the children if it wasn't for the dog.  I would have balked at the idea of getting wellied up and walking to the park if I'm honest, but what we would have missed out on is an absolute adventure.
Splashing in puddles is so much fun,
as is digging in mud and scientifically testing the worthiness of the trees shelter. 

Woody is just as keen as on a dry day not seeming to be bothered in the slightest by the drizzle or the soaking wet ground laying in wait as usual.  Although it is quite funny how he can be sopping wet having rolled through marsh like fields in stunt Frisbee catches and yet on the lead walk home avoiding every single puddle, jumping some skirting round the edges of others.  He is a strange dog ha ha. 
 Max wrapped up and cocooned under the rain cover sleeping as soundly as he would of at home in his cot.
Molly and I just had to try each others brolly's out.


All this so easily missed if I was to have followed my instinct and battened down the hatches snuggling up on the sofa with books and a bit of TV . Closing the blinds to the darkness of the day and munched on biscuits washed down with warm drinks.   Although now I think on it there is something to be said for all that too ........

Balance is the key.  A rainy walk here, coffee and biscuits there.  An early start and a busy morning here and a long lay in with a PJ day there..  


No comments: