Matthew has been a star today. He got back pretty late from Musikmesse Frankfurt yesterday and we had a terrible night as I was up no less than nine times, a record I think, with the boys. Eldest Son woke twice thinking he might be sick – cue desperate bleary-eyed thoughts about what to shove under his chin in case he was sick, coming up only with his pillow which I figure is better than vomiting all over the bed – and Second Son woke seven or so times with chronic teething. He has been teething for about three weeks now, with no sign of the impending teeth. They are, I suppose, growing under the gum and God he is miserable. Dribbly, desperate for relief and utterly miserable. I wish there was more I could do for him. When he wakes screaming in pain I stroke his head from the mattress on the floor next to his cot where I took up residence last night. If I start drifting off before he falls asleep I feel him nudging my hand with his head like a dog wanting to be stroked.
Actually, I think I might wake during the night if I thought there was someone there to stroke my head on request.
After such an awful night there was no debate whether I would be off-duty this morning (first gold star), so I went back to bed and slept three hours through two excitable, screaming children and four hyper, barking dogs (we are dogsitting two dogs this weekend) and the six of them can make quite a din.
I heard nothing.
Matthew brought me a cup of tea and my laptop (second gold star) – although I slept until the tea was cold and there was no time to use the laptop – and he looked after the children all morning (third gold star). I had already ‘reserved’ time off this afternoon so that I could watch the royal wedding (fourth gold star) on the understanding that he could watch the Masters (yawn), he cooked supper (fifth gold star) and is now putting the boys to bed (sixth gold star) while I do an on-line grocery order (which I will be doing in a minute, I promise, right after I have done just a minute or two of blogging).
In all the parenting manuals it says that after a set number of stars the recipient should be given a reward for his efforts. Hmm, I wonder what reward I should give him….
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