Ice lollies, paddling pools and Coco

It’s Summer Solstice time, and the heat haze is on, which I’m pleased about after the long grey Winter. The plants and the trees in the garden have gone ballistic, and it’s making our outdoors resemble a jungle, which I’m quite partial to, so long as I can still reach the shed.

I had attempted a rose garden at the front of our house. My plan was to squash all the existing plants with a layer of cardboard, followed by muck and straw, and plant the roses into this. However sometime around April, some of the really determined plants fought their way through the cardboard, and are now growing happily with the roses, and even dwarfing them. It’s mainly thyme, mint, and hollyhocks.

My attempts to make the front garden neat and presentable are met with the chaos of nature, and in my already worn out state I admit defeat. It’s a similar story with the mess in the house - Mole, Hedgehog and Beaver are like the wild plants, defying all my attempts to make them neat and tidy, obey any rules, leave the house on time, go to bed on time, etc etc.

The allotment is in an even more chaotic state, but the good news is I’ve now got a cordless strimmer, which means I can machete everything down to the ground in seconds. It is amazing, I should have got one years ago. I’m thinking of turning most of it into orchard, in an attempt to make it even more low maintenance. Between work and family there is limited time for the allotment, but it’s my therapy and I wouldn’t be without it.

This year Mole, Hedgehog and Beaver’s life long dream came true… when we got a bichon frise x pug (they call it a Puchon), called Coco. She is five months old now, a black fluffy thing with white socks, she chews everything in sight, and she’s gorgeous. We’ve been holding off on getting a dog for years, waiting until we thought Mole, Hedgehog and Beaver were old enough, but I’m so glad we went for it. I can’t imagine the house without her now.

We just spent two weeks away from her on holiday, and we missed her like crazy. I was quite surprised at the intensity of it, like a physical longing for her little wriggly body.

I thought that having a puppy might be about half the work of a new baby.

It is nothing like having a new baby.

Not even close.

Watching the speed that a puppy grows, the independence they master, and their self sufficiency, I am in awe. She is five months old and she goes on long walks, she is house trained, she is weaned, and she is socialised. Dogs are amazing. I don’t think there is any other animal on the planet that takes as long to raise as humans.

So this year our after school routines tend to be about getting home together as fast as possible, then collapsing for an hour. During this hour I get whined at by Beaver, licked by Coco, have to wrestle my phone back from Mole, and forced to locate Hedgehog’s favourite doll for the 100th time. All I want to do is have some chocolate and tea, and a quiet sit in the garden with my eyes closed, but Beaver in particular will not allow this.

Beaver: Mummy I WANT you.

Me: Mummy is tired.

Beaver: Mummy I want milk.

Me: Ok, in a minute.

Beaver: NOW Mummy NOW.

Me: Just wait.

Beaver: NO.

Me: silence.

Beaver: Mummy just DO IT.

Me: Okay FINE. (gives up on tea and heavenly garden chair).

Beaver will often fall asleep just before dinner time, and then have to be transferred to bed, (pulled into her night nappy which amazingly does not wake her up), where she will resemble a cherub painted on the cysteine chapel, until she wakes up again.

At the minute we have ‘Beaver Tuesdays’ together, which is lovely and we go on some great outings. The Woburn Lido was our last one, where at first Beaver was a bit shocked by the temperature of the water, maybe she was expecting bath water temperatures. But after a ginormous lolly, and a hot chocolate for me, we were ready to go back in, and ended up staying in the water for an hour. Beaver generally clings to me like a limpet, then progresses to kicking furiously with her legs on my command, and finally is cast adrift in her inflatables, so that she is a bit like a floating life raft, looking very pleased with herself and declaring Mummy I’m SWIMMING!.

As it’s now the Summer holidays, I’m enjoying some time at home, especially this week which is between trips away, so I’ve taken the approach to stay in. This is what Mole, Hedgehog and Beaver naturally gravitate towards anyway, so in the spirit of going with the natural flow, the mess and the chaos, I am leaving the children alone to find their own entertainment. It works amazingly well.

At the time of writing Beaver and Coco are taking a nap on the sofa, while Mole, Hedgehog and a playdate friend are sliding soft toys down a banner they have made, using it like a slide, with great hilarity. They’ve been playing in the loft for most of the day, so I haven’t seen much of them.

I’ve been doing odd jobs around the house, and taking lovely naps every so often, until a child comes and pokes me.

Yesterday we had a similar situation with another playdate friend, and they took themselves off down the lane to pick blackberries. It would have been all very bucolic if I hadn’t had to run after them and give them a lecture about wondering off on their own.

I’m reminded of stories from my dad of taking the bus across 1950’s Plymouth alone when he was six. How the times change. But how fantastic would it be to live in a world now where it felt safe enough to let children do this. They don’t get enough unsupervised play these days.

Anyway, I digress. Judging from the banging in the loft they are back up there again, and as long as I don’t hear any screams I shall not disturb them.