Behaviour memo, I wish my son could read…

Little Teapot is 2 (27 months to be precise). He is incredible & amazes me every day with the things he says, does & learns. The emails I get from various parenting websites (which I must admit, I read on a reactive basis when things come up, than religiously) say that he is probably at the age where he is prone to tantrums & learning the basics of sharing. While we haven’t *touch wood* had an all-singing-all-dancing tantrum yet, we’ve seen the trailers for the main event & I don’t think it’ll be too long before it happens.

We are very much at the ‘testing boundaries’ stage of our relationship.

He is usually very good & the vast majority of the time he does as we ask, or at least stops doing something he shouldn’t be, when asked. I’m not expecting miracles, but there are certain times when I’d really like Little Teapot to pull some best behaviour out of the bag:

The Diet Diaries age 15-31 & a bit

I recently had lunch with a friend who now happens to be the girlfriend of someone I went to school with (bear with me here…). She said they’d been discussing what a small world it was & he mentioned that when he’d known me before I ‘used to be well fit’. Well, that must be the worst compliment ever?!

He is right, I suppose: when I was in my mid-teens, I was very fit, healthy & loved competitive sport. I played netball, hockey, basketball & ski raced regularly, which meant that I went on fitness camps, ran & did weights daily. Looking back, I was pretty damn hot. I even had a six pack. What I’d give for a six pack now….

When I reached 17, I got kidney failure as a result of glandular fever & that’s where the saga with my weight began, as the exercise stopped abruptly & I slowly but surely put weight on & became a bit more squidgy around the edges with every year that passed. I never really regained my previous fitness levels, due in part that I never regained my energy levels & so exercise became much less enjoyable & more of a chore.

I’m not impatient, but…..

It was also around this time that I discovered alcohol & this, I fear, was the final nail in my figure’s coffin. Since then, I’ve tried more than my fair share of diets, with varying degrees of success….

Online shopping: it’s the future.

I picked up Little Teapot from the childminders recently & thought I’d just nip to the supermarket on the way home (like you can ‘just nip’ anywhere with a 2 year old!). As I only needed a couple of things, I asked Little Teapot whether he wanted to walk or go in the trolley.

Offering a choice was my first mistake. After 2 years, I can’t even call it a rookie mistake. Honestly, I should know better & I’m ashamed to admit I was so foolish. Little Teapot said ‘I walk by myself, mummy’ & we set off hand in hand up the veggie aisle.

Am I (accidentally) the man of the house?

So, it’s really quite sad that I have finally got round to writing a blog & now I think my first post may also be my last. I’m not sure I’ll make it through the afternoon, let alone the night.

I have man flu.

I’m not going to lie; between my husband & I, I make much more of a meal of being ill than Mr Teapot. He’s only had 2 days off sick in 8 years of work. In this area of our relationship, I am much more the ‘man of the house’. I think Little Teapot might give me a run for my money soon though, as he’s turning into a little drama queen! I have bought in heavy artillery:

The big guns…

Thinking about how I want to curl up under my duvet, drink hot toddies & watch Gossip Girl DVDs until I feel better (ok, so maybe that part isn’t that manly) made me think about other areas where our roles aren’t the most traditional:…