The facts of life

We went to the little animal park yesterday with some other parents & kids (first day of holidays & we already were meeting up for mutual support).  There were some very cute fluffy chicks which reminded me of something funny LM said a few days ago on the subject.  We must have seen some chicks somewhere as he turned round to me and said "Our chickens won't have chicks will they?  We need a cockatoo for that"  It made me smile and, on reflection, he could be on to something - a cockerel that actually says "Cock-a-doodle-doo" instead of crowing at some ungodly hour of the morning!

Parents Evening

Despite knowing that for a 3 1/2  year old, parents evening was never going to be that bad, I still felt apprehensive  sat in front of 2 'teachers' from preschool.  What if they told me LM was a monster with no discipline and that it was ALL MY FAULT!  It didn't help that LM hadn't been that day because he had got really worked up about going (he said that someone hit him but turns out that when he wrestles his BF he doesn't like it as he doesn't come out on top) and I'd left a garbled message on their answer machine.
I should have known they would have nothing but nice things to say about him, not least because it's preschool & how hard can it be for LM to knuckle down & play?  It's not like he's going to fail at that.  Still, being sat in front of a desk was daunting.
What was nice, was getting a sneaky peak at how he is when we're not around.  Their file on LM (how very CIA) was full of photos of him playing happily, with aforementioned BF mostly, and generally taking part in loads of fun activities, including visits from a whole menagerie of animals.  Rocky the Raccoon rocks btw.
Keen to show how good I though preschool was for LM (extra days please!) I mentioned how much more independent & confident he had become since starting as evidenced this evening when instead of his usual "Off! Off!" that constituted his idea of telling someone off, he turned round and said "Come ON Daddy!  You don't have time to mess around!"

Cooking with Mother

LM asks on a regular basis if we are making cakes - he seems to be under the impression that it is a daily occurrence.   "But we made cakes yesterday!" ('Yesterday' being any day in the past up to a few months previously).  From time to time I give in and we do the whole redecorating the kitchen in flour& sugar thing.  This time it was Strawberry & polenta cakes - well, they count as 1 of the 5 a day, don't they?
Patience is not my strong point, particularly in the kitchen, and I have to stop myself from taking over when LM is doing something a) very slowly and /or b) very messily.  To be fair, he does try to clear up after himself - mainly by eating  the mess, be it butter, sugar or even flour.  He finds it hard to believe that something that tastes so good cooked (hopefully), won't taste good when  eaten in its component parts.

Anyway, the aforementioned strawberry cakes may have looked a little 'homespun' but they tasted great.

Attitude

In the last few days LM has started rolling his eyes dramatically if told off or asked to do something he isn't keen on.  It is very hard to keep a straight face.  I fear my chances of getting him to behave are slipping away with each barely suppressed giggle.

On a happy note, the antibiotics he is on are apparently "'licious". Which is good, as he is on them for 2 weeks, 3 times a day.

Waterbaby

Very proud of LM.  Yesterday at his swimming lesson he said he didn't need his armbands.  I insisted, knowing his tendency to stop kicking  but the instructor agreed with him and guess what?  He did it.  He swam unaided for the whole lesson.  The only problem was when he opened his mouth to speak and took a fair bit of pool on board but I was really impressed (and not a little bit shamefaced for not having had faith in his abilities).

I expected him to have tired himself out with all the extra effort but was surprised nonetheless when, on being told we had to make a pit stop at the supermarket, he huffed "Can't you go on your own?"

He has started phrasing all his questions "Do you xxx or don't you?"  As in this weekend's "Do you love me or don't you?"  I was a little put out that he had to ask and even more so when I asked who he loved and he replied  "Grandad with the glasses".  They never appreciate the ones who do everything for them  (I'm tempted to blame it on gender but I'm not sure a daughter wouldn't prove me wrong)

Daddy doesn't live here

LM has become most insistent that our house is where Mummy and LM live but not Daddy.  Daddy, it transpires, lives at work.  He is quite categorical on that point.  When I try to insist that, in actual fact, Daddy does live with us but just works a lot, I get quite a flat "Oh" in response.  It seems the right to call somewhere home is directly related to how much time you spend there and Daddy clearly isn't spending enough time.  This may be because when he is here all LM says to him is "I thought you wanted to play racing cars with me".  Repeatedly. Even if racing cars were played with just 5 minutes before.  LM cannot get enough of Formula One at the moment.  Even aircraft carriers are taking a back seat.

In other news, LM had a tantrum yesterday when I dropped (& broke) an egg.  He made it quite clear that he wouldn't be happy until I 'unbroke' it.  Whilst I have learnt many skills as a mother (and even though being patient is one of them) I'm afraid I couldn't bring myself to painstakingly stick said egg back together again.  I shall always remember it as the 'Humpty Dumpty Tantrum'.

PS For those worried about the fate of broken egg, I kicked it under a bush.  Don't worry, the chickens kindly laid a replacement and normal mood has been resumed ;-)

Boys will be boys

LM is currently sitting watching the Grand Prix in the kitchen while Daddy cooks.  As the weather has been sublime today he is dressed in just pants & T-shirt (the fetching wellies he was also sporting are now off).  I happened to notice him fondling his gentleman's area through aforementioned pants as I walked past and politely asked him to stop.  To which he replied, "I'm just keeping it warm Mummy!"
No answer to that really