Our little Harriet was seven-months-old yesterday. We had a modest celebration: no cakes or champagne, and I told her that it's only in her first year that we'll make this kind of fuss on a monthly basis.
We have found that Harriet likes her labels.
By this I don't mean that we are rearing a chav. No, she merely enjoys sucking on the washing instructions on her clothes and burpies. Sod expensive toys, well researched and crafted for optimum 'education through play' they may be. Give her a cloth or a teddy with a big tasty label and she'll be busy for a useful stretch of time. I can attempt a chore or two while she's occupied. Otherwise I have to wait for her to sleep to get things done.
Harriet is a power napper in the daytime. She rarely sleeps for more than forty minutes, which makes getting tasks done a kind of "Krypton Factor" / "It's A Knockout" affair. I need the mental agility to work out how to get big chores done in little time slots, and then it quickly becomes as farcical as a preposterous game show with inflatable costumes when I actually try to execute my multi-tasking plans at top speed.
It's not hard to imagine Stuart Hall in the corner laughing at my efforts.
Maybe it's the giant carrot costume.
One of the things I have to do while Harriet sleeps is trim her nails. She's too much of a wriggler for me to get it done when she's awake. I can usually get all twenty little nails clipped in the allotted time and I am proud of the fact that I manage to keep them too short for her to harm herself.
Mostly.
And it's for the sake of my sanity that I allow myself to feel proud for such a trifling little thing. I have found that I can fall quickly into feeling like a sham of a mother if I don't celebrate the minor accomplishments. They all add up, you see. My end of the day trivia checklist needs to have on it more achievements than failures.
Anyway, I don't always get all nails done in the time and yesterday Harriet robbed me of one of my tiny triumphs by only allowing me to get her fingernails done before waking up and scratching her forehead with a toenail.
I ask you.
Only a quick one today, but thanks for looking in.
We have found that Harriet likes her labels.
By this I don't mean that we are rearing a chav. No, she merely enjoys sucking on the washing instructions on her clothes and burpies. Sod expensive toys, well researched and crafted for optimum 'education through play' they may be. Give her a cloth or a teddy with a big tasty label and she'll be busy for a useful stretch of time. I can attempt a chore or two while she's occupied. Otherwise I have to wait for her to sleep to get things done.
Harriet is a power napper in the daytime. She rarely sleeps for more than forty minutes, which makes getting tasks done a kind of "Krypton Factor" / "It's A Knockout" affair. I need the mental agility to work out how to get big chores done in little time slots, and then it quickly becomes as farcical as a preposterous game show with inflatable costumes when I actually try to execute my multi-tasking plans at top speed.
It's not hard to imagine Stuart Hall in the corner laughing at my efforts.
Maybe it's the giant carrot costume.
One of the things I have to do while Harriet sleeps is trim her nails. She's too much of a wriggler for me to get it done when she's awake. I can usually get all twenty little nails clipped in the allotted time and I am proud of the fact that I manage to keep them too short for her to harm herself.
Mostly.
And it's for the sake of my sanity that I allow myself to feel proud for such a trifling little thing. I have found that I can fall quickly into feeling like a sham of a mother if I don't celebrate the minor accomplishments. They all add up, you see. My end of the day trivia checklist needs to have on it more achievements than failures.
Anyway, I don't always get all nails done in the time and yesterday Harriet robbed me of one of my tiny triumphs by only allowing me to get her fingernails done before waking up and scratching her forehead with a toenail.
I ask you.
Only a quick one today, but thanks for looking in.
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