Monday 7 December 2009

A weekend with the Littleboys

Well, I survived the weekend. Although I have somehow and inexplicably done my back in - probably from carrying/dragging children or cleaning up crap off the floor. The snow never materialised; it just rained steadily all day Saturday. But the skies cleared on Sunday, leaving it chilly and sunny. (Meanwhile The Doctor reports that it's sleeting in New Orleans and his colleagues are illicitly shagging- maybe we're not missing out on that much after all.)

So without further ado, a quick tally of our activities:

1. A trip to the Long Island Children's Museum (via slight detour as NVG takes wrong expressway to get there.). This was hugely successful, just as good as the kids' parts of the Science Museum in London, and the Littleboys didn't want to leave. In fact, they had to be dragged out...

2. Lunch at the food court of Long Island's biggest shopping mall, Roosevelt Field. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but being a wet Saturday in December, it was of course mobbed, which made parking fun and negotiating the crowds with two speeding children even more fun. Luckily Littleboy 1 proved once again that there's nothing wrong with his memory. Despite not having been there since the summer, he deftly managed to find the place in the food court that sold hot dogs, among milling crowds of shoppers queuing for chicken chow mein, steak and falafel. (I had a chicken teriyaki burger - only in America...)

3. A quick walk around the mall. It did look very Christmassy, and was filled with fun things to do and try. Littleboy 1 had a go on a Wii - luckily he didn't realise it was for sale - and I bought them each a cute animal Christmas decoration.

4. A bad-tempered walk on Sunday morning, on which Littleboy 2 refused to move unless his mittens were on properly. Given that he couldn't seem to get his thumb in the thumb hole at all, and neither could I, this meant that half the time he was stationary as Littleboy 1 shot off into the distance on his scooter.

5. A trip to the Library to acquire Bob the Builder DVDs and a book of The Lion King, which immediately disappeared down the side of Littleboy 2's bunkbed, a place from which it is not possible to remove things without a major construction team (if only Bob the Builder were real..)

6. Attendance at the switching on of the Christmas tree in the local park. This was lovely, with a nativity scene involving real donkeys, hot chocolate, and candles to hold (slightly terrifying with pyromaniac four year olds). Then Santa arrived - not in a sleigh but in a firetruck, sirens wailing. Somehow this seemed highly appropriate....

7. A chance for the Littleboys to sit with Santa. Littleboy 2 cried and point blank refused, but his brother dutifully complied. They both received a flashing plastic reindeer nose, which immediately got broken and had to be superglued back together.

8. After a lot of shouting about not going to bed on Sunday night, they were finally asleep. I sat back with a glass of cold white wine to watch MY library DVD. "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.". Somehow, this seemed highly appropriate too.....

18 comments:

Potty Mummy said...

Why oh why does this all sound so familiar, I wonder? Well done for making it through!

Dumdad said...

God bless wine.....

A Modern Mother said...

Was worried about you, glad it went well! I haven't though about food malls in a while. Do they have Cinanabun?

Nota Bene said...

Luv the film selection.....

Hayley said...

Aw bless! It sounds like a lovely, albeit testing weekend! But I'm sure its one you will remember and they will to, for all the right reasons :D

Metropolitan Mum said...

Ha. I know why I am only having one. ;-)
Well done for surviving!

Dorset Dispatches said...

Congrats - that was no mean feat. There would have been a lot more shouting and a lot more wine in the Brit household!

PS - what is it with being unable to move if you don't have your mittens on properly. My No. 2 is exactly the same. Drives me BESERK!

Iota said...

Well done YOU! Sorry about the back.

Iota said...

The word "Wii" was underlined in yellow. When I put my mouse over it, before I'd even clicked, a little window came up - something about "highlighter link". Then the programme crashed. Now the word isn't underlined in yellow any more.

Can you enlighten me? (highlighten me?)

Marta G. (A Bilingual Baby) said...

It was a good weekend after all! I only have one child and I'm happy but also officially stressed! Have you seen Paravonian's Children's Song? It's hilarious :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd3-fb6MSew&feature=player_embedded

Anonymous said...

Well done! We had the snow down in Texas instead.

Time for some well deserved mulled wine now!

Motherhood The Final Frontier said...

What is it with the sirens and Christmas? We had monster trucks and sirens, and my children also refused Santa (can't blame them, really).
Congratulations on just the one glass of wine. I think after braving the food court you deserve a whole bottle frankly!

nappy valley girl said...

PM - thanks; I know you must have many similar weekends....

Dumdad - indeed. It was much needed.

Susanna - Cinnabun, not sure, but it had any number of sushi places....I love food courts.

NB - it was not even intentional, I have been working my way through the films of Pedro Almovodar and just happened to have got this one out....

Hayley - I hope they do have happy memories and don't recall the shouty ones....

Met Mum - I do sometimes think it would be far easier with one child. But at least two can entertian each other to some extent...:-)

Brit in Bosnia - the mitten thing drove me nuts. I can't wait until his hands are big enought to wear proper gloves...

Iota - have emailed you separately but no idea what's happening with the 'Wii' - I think we should be told!

Marta - thanks, I'm about to have a look...

Mud - yes, I see that Houston had its earliest recorded snowfall. And it has yet to fall yet here...

MTFF - actually there were two glasses of wine. I'd be tempted to neck a bottle on these occasions but any more and I'd never be able to cope with my two on my own in the morning.....

Home Office Mum said...

It sounds like one of those weekends that is almost blissful on paper but in reality was hard bloody work. So the wine sounds well deserved. Still so envious of you being there. Please can I come and visit. I have two small boys too. They could add to the chaos

nappy valley girl said...

HomeOfficeMum - of course you can come. If you can stand sharing a fairly small house with four rampaging, loud littleboys then so can I!x

angelsurchinsblog said...

At least he'll sanction actually wearing mittens. That sounds quite a weekend. YOU DO TOO MUCH!! Impressed. I barely make it out to kick a football.

nappy valley girl said...

Angels - you know what, if I didn't go out so much the boys would simply destroy the house. And my sanity....

Las Vegas UK Mums said...

Sounds like a fun, and exhausting, weekend. Luckily my hubby hasn't ventured out for a whole weekend so I haven't experienced being outnumbered for more than 12 hours at a time yet. I second the glass of wine and library DVD though!