Wednesday 14 November 2012

My mummy mysteries - the things I will never know


There is an endless list of things about being a mum which I will never know nor understand ... mostly they amuse me, occasionally they frustrate me. The last couple of weeks have been a particularly busy period in finding things that sit neatly in this category of what I shall here forward refer to as …mummy mysteries.

Mummy mystery 1: When and how did Ellie master her ‘annoyed with mummy’ face so well?
This is the face that Ellie now seems to regularly pull when I ask her to do something. I don’t mean anything too onerous – concentrating on eating her food rather than just gazing at it, or making sure she’s wearing pants for school are both requests that apparently deserve the annoyed with mummy face.

The same facial expression appears with even more enthusiasm when I suggest she stops doing something such as standing within a millimetre of the TV screen or sucking her toothbrush rather than brushing her teeth.

This face has snuck up on me – I did not teach her it or see her practising it, so how did it suddenly become a regular part of our lives? This…is a mystery.

Mummy mystery 2: Where have Ellie’s bright pink Hello Kitty PE bag, PE kit and pumps gone?
This does not represent a good start on the ‘keeping hold of your stuff’ challenge for Ellie. These items were very clearly labelled and actually placed on her peg at the start of term by her teacher. Even more mysterious is that the fact Ellie hadn’t actually used them yet – not once!

I had been warned about the phenomena of disappearing clothes but to lose the entire kit, in one shot, has surpassed my expectations. Is it really possible for things to disappear into thin air? Apparently so.

Following a bit of a twitter/facebook rant I did however get some hints as to the truth and apparently everyone is affected by the classroom gremlins. I am now wondering how I might catch them.

Mummy mystery 3 – The unattainable perfect balance between being mummy and being at work.  
This isn’t a new topic to my blog and in many ways I’m really lucky with the balance I have right now. I get to drop and pick Ellie from school once a week, most weeks and thanks to the flexible working policy of my employer I can join in some of the school activities. I’ve joined the parent council, already been to Ellie’s first class assembly performance and am hoping to join Ellie for her Christmas lunch. I can’t do everything of course…and there are still moments where I feel like I haven’t seen Ellie in a day and have no idea what she’s been doing at school. Indeed, when she did her reading with the child minder and not me the other day I couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness – despite the fact it was the most practical thing to do.

This is therefore counting as a mystery because I genuinely believe that I will never find the perfect balance or even more importantly, know if I have!

Mystery number 4 – Ellie’s memory
It’s a funny thing, because when I ask Ellie to remember to wash her hands after going to the toilet, to remember to take her shoes off when she comes in the house or to remember to say good morning…her memory often fails her.

Her memory is however a mystery in itself because she always remembers the art work that she’s created at school. Ellie is now bringing back a vast quantity of work from school on a daily basis. As a show of my dedication to this blog I laid it out and took a photo to show you… all 73 pieces of work brought home in the first two (yes two!) weeks of school:



Now obviously these don’t normally belong on the living room floor and are stored in Ellie’s room, but they are taking up a lot of space. I have been desperately trying to pick out the best bits to keep and ... well … bin the other bits! Unfortunately, Ellie’s memory does not fail her here and she remembers literally every piece. I’m banking on her memory failing in a couple of weeks, but there’s no doubt she’s keeping a keen eye on the size of the pile in her room.


That’s it from me for now, but I’m fairly sure that I’m not the only parent who discovers things that I will never know or understand…so I would love to hear yours! Please drop me a message either via the comments below or via twitter @sharonmsmyth

4 comments:

  1. I had a box dedicated to my son's artwork, he too has an excellent memory when it comes to drawings, it quickly became and artwork shelf... Now it's nearly an artwork cupboard!

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  2. Oh dear - we are going to need more room! lol

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  3. Mysteries - There are so many! I am wondering how my daughter recently learnt how to wipe her own bum (she's just turned 5) but after endless couching and explaining still can't blow her nose!

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  4. Hi runofthewindmill - Love your comment and you give me hope...I'm wondering why Ellie can wipe her bum at school but not at home! :-)

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