Absence makes the heart grow fonder

The first two days back at work after a 9-week holiday were a bit disorienting. After I got through a few hundred emails though and answered the question ‘how was your summer?’ 25 times, the rhythm of working life started to feel a little bit familiar again by the end of Tuesday.

Coming home in the evenings has been very nice – the boys are clearly excited to see me and just smother me with love. (During the holidays they’re usually sick of me by 6pm and just want to kick my shins if I ask them to do anything i.e. get in the bath).

So absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder :)

Today was my part-time day off and after walking Oskar to school, I did some hill running for 9km and then after a quick shower, took Oliver to a playdate. It was at his best friend’s place so he kept saying “THIS is going to be SUCH a good day!” over and over.

It did turn out to be SUCH a good day. We stayed at his friend’s for 4 hours, all the kids played extremely nicely together and I got to catch up with two of the nursery moms who are absolutely refreshing to be around.  Afterwards we picked up Oskar, stopped at a cafe on our way home, played with clay and sand at home, had dinner and then the boys quietly went to bed to each read* their own copy of the newest Captain Underpants book.

I couldn’t resist the little book lights at the book store :)

… and I kept thinking “Why are people SAD that their kids are growing up??? Why do people MISS having babies???” I am a self-confessed non-baby person and I just LOVE the fact that they both go to bed without a fuss and I no longer have to a) hold someone until they fall asleep or b) sing to someone until they fall asleep or c) rub someone’s back until they fall asleep or d) read the same book for 10 times before they’re even willing to lie down…

These days I say good-night, I give them a kiss and a hug, and I leave. Sometimes one or both of them come down the stairs a few minutes later, but the sound of little feet after bedtime no longer fill my heart with fear – I know that they’ll go back to bed after they’ve told me that they love me :)

- Big children rule!
- Part-time working rules!

*Oliver can’t actually read yet, but he pretends :)