Some days don't go so well. Others are better. And sometimes you get one that is just perfect. Today was one of those! I promise to redress the balance soon with a completely candid account of the next nightmare day of squabbles, meltdowns over the wrong coloured spoon, and lego-induced warfare.
Sunday's tidying went considerably better than Saturday's and at least the downstairs is (for now) respectably clean and tidy. So when Daniel suddenly announced in the afternoon that he wanted to hold a dressing-up party the following day (i.e. today) and invite his friends J and A, I was more than happy to send the required invitations. It fitted very nicely that I had already been talking with both mums about meeting early this week so was reasonably sure they would be up for it, and as an added bonus I hadn't mentioned the discussions so Daniel still got the magic of having an idea and seeing it through.
The dynamics of this three-person party (not counting the two toddlers) were a bit of an unknown as they have never all played together. Daniel has known A since they were babies, and A and J have known one another literally since birth. Daniel and J, however, have only known one another by sight until this summer, when two camping weekends nearby with her family cemented close friendships not just between us parents, but also between the children. Massive kudos to J for completely ignoring Daniel's reticence about starting a new friendship and making friends with him anyway! He came back begging to see her again. However, adding A into the mix (being an old friend of both Daniel and J) was an interesting experiment.
(If you followed the thread of that explanation I am deeply impressed. Drawing a diagram may help.)
So in other words, the three kids together could have gone either way, but actually worked like a dream! A arrived with handmade party bags for the other two; I could have hugged her, as Daniel looked like everything he had dreamed of for his party had just come true. All five children disappeared the minute they arrived to play shops with the contents of the play kitchen. In true home-ed style I suggested that we should make some paper money for them to use in the game but this excellent educational idea was summarily dismissed on the basis that they had a credit card. Damn you, John Lewis toy cash register!!!
At lunchtime I threw together some pizza dough for individual bases and the kids gathered round the table to add toppings. Then out to the garden, at Daniel's suggestion, for more attempts at the world record for the amount of noise produced by 5 children, and back in to consume the pizzas in the sort of deafening silence only ever achieved with food (or gagging, but I hear Social Services get a bit upset about that method).
The afternoon was more of the same. We mummies, meanwhile, sat in another room drinking tea and eating cake. We chatted, exchanged ideas, laughed, and generally had the kind of soul-warming time together that makes life with small children feel much more manageable.
It was a bit of a revelation being able to simply look forward to friends arriving rather than racing around trying to do some last-minute tidying (or avoiding it, which takes more effort but is invariably the more attractive option). We had a leisurely breakfast, polished off some Reading Eggs, played a couple of games and did an emergency wash-and-dry of Daniel's police shirt which he had carefully excavated from beneath his bed where I absolutely did not hide it when it started getting too small for him. Ahem. I even managed to sort out some flowers that were looking distinctly Addams Family and made them look pretty again. The last time I did anything other than plonk flowers in a vase was probably a past life or two ago.
Daniel went to bed still glowing from the success of the day, and I will do the same when I have finished writing this. So in the words of Daniel as our friends left this afternoon: Thank you for coming, I very enjoyed having you here! Please come again soon!
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