Sleeping Beauties

For much of the week there has been a tentative discussion about us baby-sitting the Sutton-Sleaths children this evening. Both Michael and Danielle are exhausted for different, and also the same, reasons, but no actual arrangement was made. Neither of them could plan the evening at an appropriate time, so all hotels were booked for overnights stays and all restaurants were booked for meals, so there was a shrug of shoulders and a hope cast into the wind.

The hope that was cast turned out well, if a little differently, to what they had thought might be the case.

“Hi, Mum,” Michael said, when he face-timed this morning, “We’re house-hunting today. Is it OK if we leave William with you while we go?” Well, of course!! We would be delighted, thank you, to have William for a couple of hours.

William and I were well-entertained during the time the grown-ups were away. There was Duplo to start with, then Transformers, then cars, then the ‘Harry Potter’ cupboard in which we were spacemen, blasting off to, and beyond, the moon. Cracking stuff.

Michael and Danielle came back in between house visits and finally arrived back at lunchtime. Michael’s tummy was rumbling….. fortunately, I’d got some half-baked baguettes that I wanged in the oven and we topped them with cheese and ham and salady stuff, which filled a gap.

While I got the lunch ready, Michael and William played with the Scalectrix. It sounded like they were having such a lot of fun and it made my heart swell.

After lunch, Thomas was grizzling a little bit and was keen to clamber all over the race track on which Michael and William were keenly racing, so Danielle popped him in the buggy and I took him for a walk. He fell asleep not too far into the walk, but he’s got a runny nose because he’s teething, so coughing ensued. I sat him up a bit, but it didn’t seem to ease the coughing much. Once we were home, there weren’t many minutes before he woke up. Ah, well….

John and William were watching the TV – the Octonauts – when I walked into the lounge. No sign of Michael and Danielle. “Have they gone up for a rest?” I asked. “Yes,” said John. Good, I thought – they certainly needed it.

We had an excellent afternoon looking after the children – William and John fell asleep watching their programme; Michael and Danielle were sleeping upstairs – all being Sleeping Beauties, so I was satisfied…….

Conscious of all those who needed their sleep, and so as not to disturb anyone, Thomas and I wandered around the garden playing on the swing or in the swinging chair whenever Thomas was fretful. We sat and read some books, we played on the stairs, we watched some nursery rhymes on my phone and then, finally, I thought he was tired again, so I took him out for another walk. He didn’t fall asleep but he was happy in his buggy and didn’t want to get out of it.

I set on to get the tea ready, thinking what a wonderful sleep and rest the Sutton Sleaths had had. As I was prepping the food, my phone rang. It was Michael. “We’ll be back shortly, we’re just by the school – sorry, we’ve been longer than we expected.'” Bemused, I just said OK, no worries – and then said to John, “Did they go for a walk while I was out then?” No. Apparently not. They had been out all afternoon. And here was me, tiptoeing around the house as quite as mouse in case I woke them up……John’s excuse was that he didn’t hear me ask about them having a rest, so thinks he must’ve just said ‘Yes’ to a random question……..

They had had a good time though – they’d gone to the pub and had a couple of drinks then met Michael’s friend’s Mum, Leigh, and gone round for a cup of tea. Wonderful.

A steak and chips dinner and ice-cream-in-a-cone-with-a-flake topped off the day. It was not what they planned when they set out today, but actually, I think it worked well. John said he was tired this evening, but he looked a happy tired. I, of course, had been in my element all day with both children and seeing Michael and Danielle. I am so very thankful for days like this. As it was yesterday, a day of beautiful memories.

I shan’t sully the happy thoughts with the COVID figures today. Take care everyone. God bless.