Octopus into a string bag....

Non-bloggers look away now. Just for a second, mind, then come straight back.

You know when you're lying down next to your child on the bed, in the early (ish) evening, in the faint hope they will go to sleep before you do, and you have a great blog post about something very profound and interesting running through your head? Yep, that. It's gone. Maybe never to return.

Ho hum. Instead I'm afraid I'm going to offload about the slightly stressy week so far (although really I should be doing a toy review but ssshh! don't tell anyone...).

OK, non-bloggers back with me?! Monday started off in not such a good way as Sasha cried out (very loudly, I did wonder how long she'd been crying before we heard her, whoops...) at around 2.11 am (see how I've noted the exact time and not exaggerated in the slightest?). Lucky me, Daddy jumped out of bed for once and went to see what was up. 

Apparently only Mummy would do. Sigh.

Sasha was wide awake, therefore I was wide awake. Until 3.33 am (yes, that is the exact time I got back into my own bed, somewhat chillier than when I had left it - oh and now wide awake of course).

Anyhow sleep was amazingly then resumed, if only for a short while, and the day started as normal. That is to say, Mummy tried to snatch a spoonful or so of cereal in between fetching several bits of breakfast food for Sasha to eat and berating Tamsin (as usual) for not wanting to eat any breakfast.

Then we left for school and en route, Sasha demanded that someone else collect her that day. See, it's OK if the routine is changed by her almightyness, as and when she chooses, just not good if we have cause to (so obviously I never do).

Luckily we bumped into our good friends who live very near school, and the SAHD (Stay-At-Home-Dad for you non-bloggers) very kindly agreed they would be able to collect Sasha and take her back for a little play after school. Amazingly this would have (notice the tense) worked very well that day as Tamsin was staying at school an hour longer for the dance club, therefore Mummy *should* have got another hour at home (to catch up on that missing sleep) so big smiles all round.

At 3.30pm (school finishes at 3.05 for reception...) I got a call from said SAHD to say that Sasha was not agreeing to go home with him - in fact she was point blank refusing in a very upset kind of way. Sigh. Not his fault at all - apparently, to cut a long story short, the meltdown was all about the class bear, which his daughter had had the night before and which Sasha had obviously thought she was then going to get. However there was a rota, and it wasn't Sasha's turn. Although I don't know for a fact, I do have an inkling that there's a chance one of the children told Sasha she could have the bear next, and therefore she took their word as gospel. Hmm.

In this case, unusually, Sasha was actually acting 'normally' - i.e. like a spoilt brat over not being able to get her own way. It's the extreme reaction that is different. I think several people have now come to realise how difficult it is to get Sasha to do something she doesn't want to when she's upset. On the plus side, I'm hoping not everyone thinks it's just me being a walkover mum any more.

Today we had one of Sasha's classmates back for a 'playdate'. Ah, that word has so much more meaning to it now as opposed to the happy occasions for Tamsin. There's a lot more to think about. As it happens, today was not a good day either. At least, it was, but only up until we got back to the car. At that point I asked Sasha to sit in the back with her friend, and Tamsin to go in the front. Sasha was not happy with that. Reasoning with her made no difference, she was adamant she should be sitting in the front. I tried everything from tough talking through to quietly explaining through to chocolate bribery, but she was not having any of it. She refused to get in the car and wailed as she sat on the wall outside. Lucky how I had parked right outside the school gates in full view of everyone, eh?!

I felt terrible as I told her I would leave without her (as if!), and she did actually cry a bit harder ( bad mummy) but still refused to get in the car.

Then followed one of those scenes that happen frequently... if you have a 2-3 year old toddler that is. It's otherwise known as 'Trying to get an octopus into a string bag' (very famous pre-baby instruction sheet - google it if you'd like a laugh ) .

This was 20 minutes down the line so fortunately there was no longer anyone around to watch. It involved swiftly moving to grab her like a baby then trying to stuff her in the car. Mistake was, I had left an arm free. All bets were off, but then all of a sudden I had a break (not hers) as her arm relaxed a bit and into the car I bundled her. She was not happy, but amazingly chose not to try and get out of the car seat (surely the 'switched on' option??!) and instead sat and wailed very loudly all the way home. I tried to continue a conversation about a lovely day at school with Tamsin and the rather bemused playdate, expecting them to ignore and talk over the extremely loud noise. Fortunately this tactic worked, and by the time we reached home Sasha had calmed down enough to do her own thing... not much of a playdate for her class mate, so thank goodness for older sisters

So more 'spoilt' behaviour? Or just the need to be in control? Another playdate looms tomorrow - the question is, do I let her sit in the front seat this time or not?!