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Tuesday 31 January 2012

The Gallery - week 89, Me Right Now

I've not done a Gallery post for a long time, for no obvious reason other than laziness, if I'm completely honest, and I thought it high time I made more of a structured effort with a bit of a prompt to get me blogging again.

Last Friday (27th Jan), just after 11am, I happened to catch a tweet about this week's prompt, and decided to take a look. Tara's instructions were simple:


Literally take a photo of whatever you're doing when you read this prompt.


So I did, and here it is:




At work - in my home office. Simple!

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Of Chalk and Cheese

Two very different incidents over the weekend have got me marvelling about how truly different my children are from each other. Little did I know, when I rashly exclaimed at number two's birth "My goodness, you're your sister", how wrong I would be proved. The physical changes became gradually apparent; after the shock of jet black hair they shared at birth had faded, DD1's colouring turned to my dirty blonde, whilst her younger sister stayed stubbornly brunette.

Physical differences are of course less interesting to me than their differences in character. In many ways this too became obvious when they were still tiny. Problems with reflux meant DD1's first few months were emotionally fraught and physically exhausted while her sister ate and slept well almost immediately, and it seemed reflected in their general temperament.

We popped to the shops on Saturday to pick up a few bits and pieces, and the familiar cry of "mummy, I need a wee" was soon heard. I looked around and mumbled something about trying to remember where the toilets were. When I looked back, number 2 had disappeared. I headed towards the toilets with DD1, only to  find DD2 purposefully striding towards the back of the store already. "It's ok, mummy", she said, "the toilets are over there - I asked a man". It truly amazed (and worried) me to see her confidence at age four - I barely dare ask strangers for directions at *cough* years older! Needless to say, even at two years older, it's not something her sister would ever consider either, which I must confess saddens me a little - I'd love to give her a bit of a confidence injection sometimes.

Yet an incident on Sunday reminded me that she has her own positive attributes where her sister may perhaps be "lacking". We went for a lovely bike ride with some friends along a canal. All was going well, when, around an hour in, DD1 slipped when pushing her bike up a hill, and fell. Her friend behind her struggled to stop, and ran over her arm at the elbow. From the initial cries we could tell something was not right, and my husband hurried back to fetch the car to the nearest point (thankfully close). From that point, through to being diagnosed as having a broken arm, having had it x-rayed three times and cast twice until we were ready to go home around 6 hours after the incident had happened, she was incredibly calm and uncomplaining, and her bravery really impressed me. It's probable that her younger sister would have howled and complained through the entire process.

I suppose it will never cease to amaze me how the same set of genes mixed slightly differently can result in such different little personalities, and seeing that mix develop and grow truly has to be one of the most fun aspects of parenting.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Singing the January Blues

I always find January to be a bit of a strange month. The gluttony of Christmas has gone and we're all supposed to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed and somehow full of new motivation to improve ourselves via the means of resolutions. Even the days are getting brighter again, which normally heralds instant cheeriness.

I know I'm not the only one to be what can best be described as a massive post-Christmas hangover. Whilst December is a dark month, I miss the decorations and the twinkle of the fairly lights. I miss the fact that nobody needs an excuse to get together with friends, and yes, I miss the abandon of not worrying about being "good" about what you are eating or drinking for a while.

Coupled with a lot of uncertainty about my job, the fact that Him Indoors is stressed about his, and the general demands of a hectic household, my current instinct is to hide away in a little hole until at least February. Whilst hibernation is appealing, however, it's not really a viable option. Instead, it seems I have two options - carry on feeling down, or try and pick myself up, dust myself off and start looking forwards again. So, whilst I'm not a great fan of New Year's Resolutions, I'm going to treat myself to a belated one this year - namely, to keep smiling.

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