Never a dull day in the life of a parent

We have sort of started a new bedtime habit that we call “peas in the pod” – the boys and I all lie down in Oliver’s bed, I tell them a couple of stories and then after a bit I leave, telling Oliver I’m going to the bathroom. That is just about the only way he’ll let me leave before he’s asleep, having Oskar’s warm body next to him probably helps as well.

Last night Oskar was a bit hyper and as soon as I closed the door I heard him say:

“I’m going to school tomorrow, but in 4 days YOU will go to the NURSERY!”

Oliver, who’s a very clingy little thing and has been horrified by the whole nursery idea until a few weeks ago, said very matter of factly:

“Yes, I know. Nana will take me there and then she will go to the shops.”

“Yes and then you will be ALONE!” said the big brother (and was probably GRINNING from ear to ear :).

“Yes, but nana will come back to get me.” replied Oliver.

End of discussion.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Oskar is usually such an encouraging and gentle big brother, but maybe because he’s sick of being bitten or having his Lego thrashed on a regular basis, he felt like scaring Oliver a bit.  And it was very amusing how Oliver was just not bothered by it all.

Let’s just hope that the transition to nursery life will be as smooth as that.

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Late last night when I was relaying to James all the cute and funny things the boys had done or talked about that day, like the conversation above, we laughed and cried over it all as usual. There is just no end to how amusing kids can be, it’s just a shame that I usually forget all the details after a few days to blog about them. I should probably take notes during each day.

In general, Oliver’s a typical two-year old – his fuse is just a little too short, but he can be so cuddly, affectionate and gentle at all other times that it just makes all the tantrums loose their force. His tantrums actually are much milder than Oskar’s used to be. Oskar used to totally loose control and hyperventilate. Oliver just screams a bit, bites a piece of furniture (or his brother), realises that that’s not a good idea (when he hurts his teeth or when Oskar bites him back) and calms down after a while.

I’ve never done naughty steps or time outs with my kids. It just doesn’t suit me or my kids. I think it’s much better to talk them through their tantrum, or even just hold them when they’re in the hyperventilating state, rather than to just put them into isolation.

So parenting these days has many more ups than downs. Yesterday on my day off I saw them play nicely together for hours, once in a while hearing Oskar yell that “Oliver ignores me!”, but knowing that Oskar mixes up “ignore” and “annoy”, the issue was probably the latter. I didn’t check. I try not to bud in when they’re playing and/or fighting, I figure they’re both old enough now to sort out most of their own disagreements and not always, but most of the time they do.

In the afternoon I took them to a soft play centre where Oskar climbed up as high as possible and slid down all the slides at top speeds. Oliver, however, is afraid of heights but in love with anything sporty, so he just played with a soccer ball.

In the evening Oliver played with his Playmobile plane and I worked on Lego with Oskar while answering questions like “Why is the universe endless?” and “Why don’t some people have children?” and “Why would anyone not WANT to have children?” and “When is my wobbly tooth going to fall out” and “What does f*ck mean?”

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Ummm…

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Why indeed, would anyone NOT want to have children?!? The entertainment they provide is priceless!

AND they teach you to talk about bodily functions and anatomy and death and rude words in a totally matter-of-fact way – the last thing you want to do is to scare or shock your kids.

So you tell them that food turns into poop and girls do not have willies and death means that your soul goes to heaven and your body goes into the ground and f*ck means…

..well, that f*ck is actually just a bad word that is not nice to use :|

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If anyone has a better definition of it for a 6-year old, let me know.