Mum, I want to learn about Ancient Egypt, but you just want to do boring things, like make my breakfast.
Author Archives: Mummy
Nightmares
You’ve been doing so well with sleeping all night in your bed lately. We were up to a record of nine nights straight when last night you had a bad dream and ended up in our bed.
Tonight while you were in the bath, I asked you about it. You said you dreamed your best friend didn’t want to play with you.
Me: But you know she really loves you. Bad dreams are just our brains’ way of helping us think through our problems and worries.
You: So . . . bad dreams are good!
Me: Yeah, I guess in a way they are.
You [smiling]: I love bad dreams! They’re so small, I want to protect them. They’re so cute!
When I grow up, I’m going to be Wonder Woman and save the world. That’s important work!
We were waiting for your daddy to come home with some lunch, and in the meantime you were eating a slice of brown cheese.
Me: What’s your most favourite food?
You: Brown cheese!
Me: Really? I thought maybe it was soup, or chips, or jumping beans…?
You [wagging an admonishing finger at me]: Now Mummy, you know I like all the stuff.
The little bird
This morning Sushi caught her first bird; at least, she caught the first one we know about. She brought the little kjøttmeis into the living room while you were having breakfast and I was in the kitchen making your lunch. There was a lot of tweeting, crashing around, and growling. I came in and managed to get Sushi away from the bird—which was dazed and frightened—and throw a tea towel over it so I could carry it outside. You were very upset for the bird, and I could tell you were shocked to see this vicious side of Sushi.
I put the bird outside on top of the barbecue, where Sushi wouldn’t know to look for it. Poor Sushi looked very upset that I’d taken her prize away, and didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. You came out to look at the bird, which sat on the barbecue for over an hour, breathing hard but seemingly uninjured. I put some seeds out for it, but by the time I got home from dropping you at barnehage, it had flown away. I hope.
You said, “Sushi is a little bit bad.”
I said, “Well, it’s in a cat’s nature to hunt birds and mice, but it is sad when they play with them like that.”
You nodded, and said you thought Sushi was sorry for hurting the bird.
Sorry
This morning I was talking with your grandma on Skype, and you were playing with your dad. I looked over and you were stroking his face in circles, concentrating very hard. I asked you what you were doing, and you began to explain, then frowned and said, “Look, just don’t worry about it, okay?”
I laughed and translated for Grandma, who also laughed.
A moment later you came over and climbed into my lap. “Can I have a cuddle?”
“Of course you can.”
You put your arms around my neck and said, “I’m sorry I was angry with you, Mummy.”
You’re so lovely.
Chickpeas
“What are you doing, Mummy?”
“Shelling chickpeas.”
“Can I have one?”
“Sure.” I give you one.
You eat it. “Can I have three in my hand?”
I laugh. “You can have four.”
You squeal. “Thank you very much!”
You proceed to eat half a can of chickpeas in small handfuls.
“Maybe I can have chickpeas in my lunchbox for barnehage!”
Broken heart
You: Daddy, my heart is broken
Daddy: Is it?
You: Yes, I was up in the sky and it broke
Mummy: Your heart is broken? How did that happen?
You: It was up in the sky and it fell down and died
Mummy: Why did it do that?
You: Because that’s my problem [big sigh]
First fibs
You threw a ball into my office yesterday and I told you never to do it again because it might break my computer. You said, “But your computer didn’t get broken.”
I told you it could have.
You said, “But I didn’t throw the ball in your office, Mummy.”
I became exasperated at this point and said, “I SAW you do it, Ella!”
You mumbled something and your lip started trembling. I knelt down and asked you to repeat what you’d said because I didn’t hear.
You burst into tears and cried, “When you get mad, I get SAAAAAD!”
Luckily you were on your way out the door with Daddy to go swimming, so you couldn’t see that I was crying too. I hate it when you cry – it breaks my heart every time. But mummies have to be firm.
Australia
We were sitting at the table talking about my grandma, and you asked if you could visit her. I said no, because my grandma lives in Australia.
You said, “My grandma lives in Australia too!”
The conversation turned to Australian snack foods, and I said to Daddy, “It’s a good thing we don’t live in Australia, or I would be really, really fat.”
You looked up from your plate and said, “I want to go to Australia, and then I can visit with my grandma, and your grandma, and I can be really, really fat like people in Australia.”