Etienne left on his 5 day Mancation this morning.
At 5am I had Daniel in bed with me, at 6am both girls were crying after their Dad left, nothing serious, they just tend to wind each other up.
Off to a great start then.
It was going well until Daniel had to pack his clothes for hockey this afternoon and point blank refused to. What follows is a loose transcript, I’ll spare you nasty in-between detail:
- D: “I will NOT play hockey today, it’s match day and they always make me goalie”
- Me: “Do you want me to email the teacher and ask that she doesn’t put you at goalie today?” (whilst putting on my face, trying not to stick the mascara wand in my eye)
- D: “NO. Ok, what really happened is that I don’t like playing with some of the boys”
- Me: “Oh, that’s quite different then. Why don’t you like playing with the boys?” (whilst I’m busy getting dressed)
- D: “They’re not very fast, just like me” (this is true)
- Me: “That’s not a good enough reason not to play hockey, you were having fun on Monday? I still don’t understand?” (by this time I’m putting on my shoes)
- D: “Ok. What’s really wrong is that the teacher never gives me a bib and the team in the bibs ALWAYS beat my team”
- Me: “That doesn’t seem fair, have you spoken to the teacher about it? I can’t let you quit hockey today, it’s only one lesson, we can talk about it when your Dad gets home” (Yes, I went there!)
- D: “NO!” (runs off to his room to sulk)
By this stage I have moved on to the girls’ room and found them with bemused expressions, having listened to the whole drama playing itself out in my room. I’m busy with their hair and we are chatting when I hear Daniel crying from his room, so I go and have a look and he really upset about the freaking hockey, he had worked himself up into such a state and there was very little I could do about it. At this stage I probably should have given up, but noooo, I persevere, because clearly I’m a sucker for punishment.
This was followed by him not wanting to leave the house, not wanting to get into the car, not wanting to get out of the car and refusing to walk into school. I tried leaving him at the gate, but he ran after me, to the horror of some Mothers that were on school traffic duty. So, I did what every self-respecting Mother would do: I walked him to class, even though parents aren’t really welcome at the classes in Gr 2. There I finally managed to leave him, not happy at all. As I passed those very horrified Mothers I suggested it was maybe not to early to start drinking and they assured me that somewhere a plane had gone over. Mothers in arms, I tell ya.
Luckily I had the sense to call Aftercare and warn them that my son was just not that into hockey today and I did get “your son refuses to go to hockey” call. So I said to put him on the phone and said it was ok, but that we will talk about it tonight. What. Ever. It’s really not worth it, but his timing sucks.
Fast forward to tonight and the child is adamant. I’m just going to leave it for now.
The kids are now safely, but only just, tucked into bed, all fed and watered and read to after many jokes and farts and begging to brush teeth.
I am now huddled on the couch in the fetal position with my favourite things: wine, my iPad, my crochet work and Longmire on AppleTV. Yes, I’m a closet cowboy fan..
1 day down, 4 to go.
Ag ja, how they play us! But sport is tough and when you are not the speedy one can get tough. . We however have a rule of one teamsport a year – and they all still stick to it.
Love days like these! And they always happen when you are flying solo!