Great expectations

Yesterday (Dec 3rd) was Action Man's second birthday. We were very excited and wanted the day to be lovely for him - not that he really knows much what it means, despite running around the house yesterday announcing "I'm 2!" to anyone who asked.

I am always off work on Mondays, so Hubby took the day off too so that we could spend the day together. We had a specialist appointment for Flipper in the morning which I had been a little worried about but it was all ok so we set off very happily afterwards for 'Toys R Us' to buy Action Man's birthday present (Mummy had not been organised enough to get it earlier - bad mummy!) I may have mentioned it before, but he is OBSESSED with cars, trucks and anything that has wheels and goes - including bikes. He has a little ride on dinky thing but seems to have outgrown that and is always heading for the trikes that other kids bring to the park, so we decided that we would get him a trike - the ones that have a handle so that we can steer for him.

My grand plan for the rest of the day went something like this......

- buy trike and head home
- boys down for sleep - that they ALWAYS have at about 12.30/1pm for at least an hour and a half
- while boys asleep Mummy makes birthday cake, maybe grabs a little lie down, and Hubby mows and tidies lawns
- boys wake up in lovely mood and we take boys and new trike and birthday cake to the park for a picnic afternoon tea
- early dinner at local pizza place that knows us and is happy to have the boys there
- home for bed
- Mummy and Daddy have a relaxing evening (and maybe for something fun, Mummy attempts the great pile of ironing currently taking on a life of its own in the laundry).

Here's what actually happened ...

-buy trike and head home (so far so good - the next one is where it gooes pear shaped)
- boys refuse to sleep - for the first time in I can't remember how long
- Mummy makes cake in a big rush while listening to boys carrying on and refusing to sleep
-lawns not mowed or tidied
-boys not in lovely mood - in fact, they are quite cranky and difficult
- sudden thunderstorm ruins plans for afternoon picnic
- Mummy feeling very ill - having caught the bug the boys had last week
- against all better judgement still head to pizza place where Action Man refuses to sit, eat, or generally behave, and Flipper just cracks it because he is way too tired
- walk home in second drenching thunderstorm of the day because of course we forgot the umbrellas
- boys do go down to bed ok, but no relaxing (or ironing) for Mummy as I retire to bed at 8pm feeling absolutely shocking.

Ok - so not a tragedy, not life threatening, and I am laughing about it today - but I think things like this happen every so often to remind me that planning when it comes to kids (and the weather in Sydney at the moment - go figure!) is futile and that despite my routine based approach and general orderliness, we just need to go with the flow, and Mummy needs to learn to CHILL OUT!