Reasons to be Cheerful April! #R2BC

Right having been caught out by Thursday coming around quick I am now ready to do a proper host post! It is the last week of term at my school plus my son has had 2 secondary school information evenings so the days have just run away from me.. I also missed last week with Michelle so I am doing my fortnight's worth in one go...

1) Proud Mum #1

On a very sunny Saturday in March my son and I met up with the Wonderful Wild Women in Coniston for a walk up the Old Man. He had said he only wanted to do the lower level 5 mile walk. When we reached the point where the group split he decided he actually wanted to conquer his first serious Wainwright as he wanted to see how deep the snow was. This was the answer:

2) Sibling co-operation

When a friend visited unexpectedly on Saturday that was one reason to smile. When we ended up with an impromptu musical evening with my daughter teaching her brother how to play her keyboard I had a huge grin:

3) Sunny running

We have had some wonderful sunshine and I made the most of it to get out for a 6 mile run on Sunday. It was just stunning out along the old canal and down through Sedgwick:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Siblings, Cumbria and Roses #R2BC

Thank you again Michelle for hosting the linky its great to be able to share the happy things with our little community. Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Proud Mum

My son took place in his school's fell race morning this week. Over 200 children took part in both competitive and non competitive races around the Castle hill. In a tough race he was 5th in his category and oh so close to 4th. Good lad:

2) Sibling Love

As any parent of more than one child knows, siblings argue a lot! However mine do actually care for each other very much and sometimes they even do this:

It's hard at the weekend

not that it's easy during the week but single parenting at the weekend is a whole new level..


It seems that everywhere you go when you are out that everyone else is in nice little family units of mum & dad plus kids - this may not be the case but it looks that way! From Monday to Friday the things I do tend to be just mum's or the occasional dad or grandparent. Compact family units don't do school runs or toddler groups on the whole...


My kids have to cope with each other's company for 12 hours solid. They can go for about an hour of playing nicely together and then one or other of the upsets the other. We end up with shouting & fighting and usually someone needing a cold compress. I can leave them playing together but as soon as I pop to the loo or go to get a meal ready WW3 breaks out in the other room.


If I try and take turns at giving each of them some undivided mummy time the 3 year old doesn't get the fact that his big sister is allowed to have mummy to herself for a few minutes each day. So it ends up with her only getting me to herself after he has supposedly gone to bed - and even then he keeps coming back for more.


When we go out for a treat its a real minefield. I can't trust them to be left on their own at a table whilst I go and order drinks etc., if one needs the loo we all have to go. Yesterday I finally caved in to little ones request to go on the dodgems. This meant I have to leave a screaming 6 year old watching from the side as neither child is tall enough to go on without a grown up. Needless to say we won't be repeating that one! They each have to take turns watching the other one do something whilst I hold their hand. This is when their age gap stands out more as they want to do different things.


If another grown up is around it is so much easier as we can divide and conquer. I can catch 15 minutes of me time to draw breath. I can also let my poor 6 year old have time with me without her little brother butting in and causing chaos.


We do have fun and I love spending time with my kids but I look forward to weekdays when I don't have them both all day and it's much more relaxing. Here's hoping that the Incredible Years parenting course I've started will help both me & the kids learn to have fun with out all the aggro!

See we do have fun together!

It isn't all bad but I wish it was a lot less stressful...