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Princess

I know it’s not the flu


Posted in: Middle Child, Princess, Twins

Because the one time I had the flu, I could barely struggle out of bed.  But I have got a nasty cold.

Yesterday, I spent all day in bed, being poked in the eyeball from time to time by a very bored Princess.  Our cleaner kindly agreed to stay all day and keep an eye on herself but I think she (the Princess and probably also the cleaner) has now decided that there is such a thing as too much television.  She went off to school today with a spring in her step.

Our cleaner is a very nice woman from the Eastern part of Poland and she disapproves profoundly of my decision to work.  Yesterday, she said to the Princess – isn’t it nice to have Mama at home instead of her going off to work?  The Princess was gobsmacked; here she was having the most boring day of her life and she was supposed to like it.  I was mildly gratified.

And in other whinging about the help news (is there anything more irritating, than someone who does that?) our childminder does not, like me, believe in always telling children the truth.  I like to think that it builds up their soft skills. The other day, Daniel, expressed a desire to see the childminder’s daughter C.  It was 6 o’clock in the evening, the childminder was just leaving, she said “you want to come with me, you want to see C?”.  Daniel’s little face lit up.  Why would she torture him this way?  As I say, building up their soft skills.

Finally, the Princess has a half day at school today, I rang L’s mother who lives around the corner to ask her, if she could take the Princess this afternoon, in view of my enfeebled state.  She croaked on the other end of the phone – no, I have the flu and so has my husband and my two year old.  Given that she was just starting to feel ill when she was around here on Friday afternoon, perhaps it is the flu after all.
Back to bed, while I still can.

Sick as a dog


Posted in: Princess

I have a rotten cold: achy limbs, runny nose, hacking cough, temperature, dizziness and general misery.

I spent last night alternatively roasting and shivering.  The Princess arrived in to our bed at 1.00 in the morning with the same symptoms.  I said we would stay home together today.  Is she now sick? Nope.  She seems to be the picture of health and is sitting up watching “Mary Poppins” while I am about to haul myself back to bed.

Partied out


Posted in: Princess

On Sunday, most uncharacteristically, the Princess had a nap.  Eventually, with great regret, we had to wake her as otherwise she would certainly not have gone to bed that night.

Me:  Wake up, sweetheart.

Her:   Ummph, urgh.

Me:  I have great news, while you were asleep I was out and I met L’s mummy and you are invited to L’s birthday party. There’s going to be a magician.

Her (blearily): Now?  Is the party now?

Me (with some trepidation): No, sweetheart, it’s next weekend.

Her (falling back on the pillow): Thank God.

How different, how very different from the home life of our own dear Queen


Posted in: Belgium, Ireland, Princess

I was born in Cork and grew up there. I went to school with Cork children. My mother was considered mildly exotic because she came from Limerick (adjoining county about 40 miles away). We had a girl in our class in primary school whose mother came from Dubin and this was considered so exotic that there was an article about her mother in the Evening Echo. As I remember it, the headline was something like “Dublin Woman moves to Cork”; it’s not as though her mother was famous or had done anything very thrilling once she got to Cork. I suppose I’m saying that Cork in the 70s and 80s was a pretty homogenous place.

Obviously, going to school in Belgium, the Princess was never going to be in a class full of her compatriots but what amazes me is the range of nationalities in her class alone: Poles, Belgians, Pakistanis, North Africans, South Americans and one Irish girl. This morning she explained to me that she had a cooked lunch in school yesterday (itself a matter calling for some investigation as she had left the house with a sandwich, but we will leave that to one side) but not the same as the “musulmans” because they don’t eat meat. I explained to her that the English word was Muslims and they do eat meat but it has to be prepared in a particular way. It is amazing to me that she knows more about other religions and other cultures at four than I did at fourteen. I can’t help feeling that there is quite a lot to be said for globalisation all the same.

Misunderstanding


Posted in: Princess

The Princess likes me to make up stories about Dora and Boots. Although these stories feature Dora and Boots, Abuela, Mami, Papi, Diego and, when I think of it, Map and Backpack, they are essentially stories about a little girl in Brussels and the adventures she has. After telling a number of these this afternoon, I was creatively exhausted.

Her: Tell me another Dora story.

Me: Last one then. Dora was sitting on the sofa with her Mummy and the doorbell rang, it was her cousin Diego. Dora was so excited. Diego had a lamb with him [Diego works in animal rescue, so I thought he should arrive with an animal – insert here the kick Dora gets from feeding the lamb with her little brothers’ bottles]. Then Mami invites Diego to stay to dinner but suggests he brings the lamb home first because she doesn’t want it leaping all over her furniture.

Her: But do they have the lamb for dinner?

Me (a little shocked but, you know, we’re carnivores, I suppose, as it happens, we’re having lamb chops for dinner): Well, maybe not that day maybe a couple of weeks later for Easter.

Her: But MAMA WHY, why not now?

Me: Well, you know it would have to be killed and prepared and cooked and Mami didn’t have time to do that before dinner.

Her (aghast): I meant when would they eat with the lamb.