It’s not a case of “I think we’ve finally cracked xyz!” or “thank goodness that horrendous phase of abc is over, I don’t think I could’ve taken anymore!” because the longer I parent, the more I realise that there’s always another phase just around the corner, and there’s not really such a thing as completely cracking xyz (unless you’ve literally just thrown away the dummies and wild horses couldn’t compel you to go back down that road)… Instead, in a very mindful fashion, I think it’s about saying “You know what? That was a Really Good Day, and whatever happens today or tomorrow or next week or next month, nobody can take it away.”
In other words, make like the wise contestants on The Weakest Link and BANK when you know you’ve got a good thing going.
This particular Good Day started with a bump, as days sometimes do - Smol T woke themselves up too early, got in a bit of a tizz, and “weebling” (tipping them over in the hope they work the rest out by themselves) wasn’t cutting it… So into bed with Mummy and Daddy it was, in the hope that we all got another ten minutes sleep…
However, from that point on, we had a blinder, despite the fact that we are all still getting over The First Big Cold.
They both had a great breakfast (as discussed recently, the appetite has taken a proper battering with all the snot)
They both then entertained themselves for much longer than normal in the playpen whilst I did morning chores (largely laundry-related), which meant I was able to put the dog’s bedding onto wash (long overdue so very grateful for a window in which to do it)
They both had a really great lunch and then went down for their nap without any fuss (other than the now traditional “I’ve chucked my cuddly penguin out of the cot again I’m sad now please can I have it back oh no I’ve thrown it out again I’m sad now please can I have it back…” game)…NB this was particularly excellent because Daddy was in That London for the day, and Mummy doesn’t often do solo naptime/bedtime, so I was feeling very proud of myself
They then both slept, uninterrupted, for TWO AND A HALF HOURS…I mean, WHAT?
This meant that I had a lovely cup of tea with my friend who came round to say hi. I haven’t seen them in weeks and I was honestly half expecting about 5 minutes of baby free time into which we’d have to cram our entire updates. But NO. We finished our cups of tea and Chatted About Things Other Than Babies. For actual hours. Crazy.
They then both had a very civilised snack at their little table in the kitchen without throwing everything everywhere
We then all (including the dog) had a really lovely walk in the sunshine (it was meant to be miserable and snowing all day, so that was a real win)
At this point, I decided we were onto a winner, so it felt like the right time to give them spaghetti for the first time (I had been resisting until now because we tried tagliatelle once and it did Not Go Well) and they absolutely bossed it (I did blow half their salt budget on one meal because carbonara, but it was totally worth it)
Bedtime, whilst a bit late (because I forget how long everything takes when it’s just one of us doing it), was relatively fuss-free
Then I had a bath. With a glass of wine.
(Smol T had a bit of a wobble around 10pm, so I got out of the bath (temporarily), went in and did some back rubbing, water offering et c, and then they were happily snoring (so much snot) within 5 minutes and I was back in the bath.)