Four may have been a bit much

Well I learned a little lesson today. Had Felix and his little brother Dex, who's two, over at the same time, mainly so their dad could attend a quick physio appointment in town. While it wasn't really chaos, there were definitely one or two times when I thought hmmm OK I really need to be able to see all the children - or at least Dex - all the time!

My fault really, as I stupidly chose to get them to make cookies with an untested recipe - one for chocolate amaretti - which was a rather stiff and sticky dough to mix. So they lost interest quite quickly. Then I dumbly allowed them to use their hands to mix the dough since it was so stiff. So then there was then the danger of three tots wandering round with hands coated thickly in egg white, ground almonds, cocoa powder and icing sugar. And of course they all wanted to wash their hands at the same 

Then Izzy had a little accident in the bathroom and required a change of clothes. Ai. 

Fortunately I had thought ahead just a wee bit and had prepared their lunch ahead of time so only needed to throw a pyrex dish of macaroni cheese into the oven. Once lunch was on the table, the pack manners of the nursery took over and all quietened down for a bit. And once that was over, I threw open the garden doors and let them loose outside, deploying wet wipes like a mad woman inside. 

When their dad came back, they'd settled indoors again to some sedate drawing and yoghurt pots and, had you not seen me flying around, voice strained and wild-eyed an hour ago, you might think I was some child-minding genius. Almost - I do have a tupperware of chocolate amaretti to eat now. Am trying very hard to get some packed for Felix and Dex tomorrow, so I don't eat them all. 

Was very impressed with their behaviour regarding Rosie as well. For the most part they ignored her and she happily sat in her bouncy chair observing them. As I was spooning macaroni into bowls for them to eat though, Rosie started crying. Immediately, the three of them crowded round her, and proceeded to stroke her tummy and take turns to bestow kisses on her cheek. This kept her amused for a few minutes and when she started to cry again, they fetched a baby rattle (Izzy) and teddy bear (Dex) for her. 

After a while I had to ask Dex to stop, unfortunately, as he was holding the bear right up against her face and leaning on her tummy when leaning over to kiss her. Rosie was not fond of that. But how sweet was it that they all did this without me saying a thing? 

Poor Roz must have been feeling a bit neglected today, so since Izzy is at nursery all day tomorrow, we'll have a few more hours of cuddles on the sofa. I do feel a bit bad when I think of the innumerable hours I spent carrying Izzy around the apartment nearly all the time when she was little. With poor Roz, any sort of activity for Izzy means that much more time in the car seat for her. 

Once the boys left today and Izzy was at nursery, we had a good couple of sessions babbling to each other and you could see she was definitely happier. Guess we'll just have to do a lot more of that tomorrow.

Gymlet

The other thing we did with the boys today was go to a baby gym session. It's just a lot of baby toys laid out in a proper gym but the children are allowed on some of the proper gym equipment as well, including a floor-level trampoline, mats and balance beams. 

I've put Izzy's name down for potential classes next term - there aren't any spaces in classes this term - as the activities they do look quite benign to start with: bunny hops, log rolls, jumping and landing with both feet. 

Izzy says she's interested in gymnastics and I think it'd be good for her to do a bit to develop her balance and flexibility if nothing else, but I would seriously think twice about letting her do it seriously. A girl I met briefly while on work experience used to be a serious gymnast and, while she stopped any activity something like 10 years ago, she's still doing physiotherapy for over-stretched ligaments. And they still hurt. 

Bunny jumps can only be good though, I think. Really need to start checking out swimming lessons for after our holiday home.