Sometimes, Thank You

Sometimes, just sometimes, we will all sit down to a family tea at the table and the pleasant parts of it will outweigh the unpleasant parts of it.

Mind, I'm only saying 'sometimes'.

I have tried many things to make the 'sometimes' a 'more often than not' but try as I might it doesn't seem to be happening. Usually the tea descends into picking cutlery/food/cups/will-to-live off the floor, in between having to get up and down to help with wiping bums or fetching more drink or fetching a towel to wipe up spilled drink or having to get a spoon because a fork isn't enough. And then there's the whole chat about 'I've had enoooouuuuugh' and 'I don't liiiiiiike it' and 'please can I just have onnnnneeee mooooooooorrrrre'.

Honestly. It's enough to put them back to a 4.30pm tea and eating a more civilised dinner alone after they've gone to bed.

But, this Blip is not about that. This Blip is about the 'sometimes' days.

On the 'sometimes' days the kids will eat what is in front of them. Ida will sing and dance along to the music on the radio, whilst shoving great spoons of food into her gob and generally being brillz. Arlo will do the same, with only a little cajolling and encouragement and all the while we will chat as a family, play table games and generally have a rather lovely time.

For a long time now we make a big effort to tell each other 3 things about our day that the others might not know. It's an attempt to try to get Arlo's head out of the clouds for a few minutes to let us know what he actually gets up to when he's not with us. I love that part of the day. Sometimes it makes no sense he'll tell you that it was nice to play with Jamie because he's a poopoo poinka poinka. Other times you find out he got to dress up as a lolly pop man and play at crossing the road (and that's just Bry's day! Boom Boom).

Recently, Arlo has started adding in a thank you to each of us. The first time he did it I nearly cried 'I want to say thank you Mummy for being the best Mummy in the world and letting me have peanut butter on toast for lunch'. Simple but effective (can't help thinking he's been practicing for some award ceremony acceptance speech!). 'Thank you Daddy for giving me extra spins and throwing me on the sofa'. 'Thank you Ida for giving me back Spiderman when I asked for it'.

Lump in throat stuff. We've all started doing it and even though Bry's convinced it makes us 'New Agey Right On Groovy Middle Class Twats' (he has a way with words) I think it's a nice way to get everybody thinking about the nice things we all do for each other.

The biggest 'Thank You' from today is definitely to Bry. Thank You for chopping up all this beautiful dried fruit, for making an amazing looking christmas cake. For spending the next 3 weeks topping it up with brandy and lovingly looking after it. For making your own marzipan, for icing it to perfection, for giving it over to your family and friends and never once having a taste of it because you can't actually stand Christmas Cake.

Or as you would say 'This cake is STINKIN'.

Bry and his amazing way with words. Thank you.