By the sea one day, by the river the next

I’m making up for lost holiday time this last two weeks as I’ve just come back from my third short trip away. This time we just spent a couple of nights on Hindmarsh Island overlooking the River Murray. It actually turned out quite well. I was a bit unsure because JJ was going to have a four-year-old to hang out with for that time.

They sure had their issues and it felt like we told them off a hell of a lot. For a start because we were by the river we made a very strict rule that they weren’t allowed down there without an adult and they were told off severely if they ventured down there alone. This telling off only happened twice I think – not too bad. They also wanted to have everything the same. If one had Weetbix for breakfast the other one had to. If an adult asked for something they both had to carry it.

It’s quite hard at the moment being a parent of a four-year-old. He’s testing me at every turn and I’m having to be quite tough I feel. If I gave into everything that he wants he would turn into a spoilt brat but I fully understand why some people do give in either some of the time or all of the time.

It’s not all testing times though. Sometimes he will ask how he can help, particularly when I’m cooking. He loves food and he loves the growing of food (we have herbs and tomatoes growing) and he loves the preparation of food. I hope this love continues and when he gets bigger he can start cooking for me. He also loves watching cooking shows and will devour Jamie Oliver’s cooking shows and say that we should cook that mum.

I find this parenthood thing goes in stages. There will be a really really tough stage when you wonder why the hell you’re doing it, then they will come through this stage and generally behave and act really well until the next testing stage. Having said that though, even during the tough stages there are bright sunshine moments when he says or does something really funny.