two flew out of the flamingo's nest

Mr FD has noticed that we have fewer chickens in the nest - there is less food and clutter in the fridge. Daughter 2 is dairy free and wheat free so her special needs are no longer our problem. Daughter1 had to take a school lunch [as teachers do!] everyday so we had fiddly bits in the fridge for her and other items meeting her diet needs. Son only drinks milk and coke from the fridge and anything I hand him.  So this morning Mr FD went looking for something and he found it first go. No standing at the door flailing his arms going help me, help me. First go he zoomed in on the bottle straight away. Who is a good boy, then!

However it is balanced off by the amount of difficulty that now comes from arranging a joint activity. Daughter 2 and I want to go to the American Impressionists Exhibition at the art gallery this weekend. So first there were calls and texts - was she busy with work or dating, what day, what time etc. Got that sorted out. Then Daughter1 woke me from my slumber to ask if The Boy could go into the exhibition with us as she had seen it with a friend earlier. So more calls and texts to ascertain yes no and all that. And yes The poor Boy is in my clutches now too. Then the time didn't suit Daughter1 and so I said call Daughter2 but she didn't want to as she thought that D2 might think she was muscling in on D2's Mummy time....oh my popularity knows no bounds - and so I had to call and yes later was fine and then back to D1 to say yes later is fine etc etc. I am so exhausted I am not sure I even want to go anymore.

Once I was MUMMY and I orgainsed everything and they all heeled. Now I have to be understanding and considerate, which is painful at the best of times, but I can't frigthen The Boy too much yet either as we need to slide him into the web a little more - get him comfortable before the trap springs shut. It is exhausting having children all over the place - well I guess they are all in one city - maybe that is the problem, If they were on different continents and time zones it might be easier. Though Son is on a different time zone as he is nocturnal.

Anyway, I forget what I was going to say, but parenting doesn't get easier as they age. One still has to be mindful of how big a piece of the Mummy pie they each get and still treat them like the adults they think they are. Which reminds me, I have to go phone my mother and treat her like the adult she still thinks she is.