From angel to devil in seconds! – Mummascribbles

There are moments in a day where everything is wonderful and there are those that are less so. This is generally the case in life but when you have a child, things can go from purely wonderful to absolutely shite and back to purely wonderful in the space of ten minutes!

Last night when I picked Zach up from nursery he was in the best mood. All the way home he was talking to me, asking me questions, discussing what he would eat when we got there.

“Mummy, can I have a breadstick when we get home”.

When I mentioned that I was hungry…

“Mummy, maybe you can have some toast. Can I have some toast, with jam on?”.

“Mummy can I have the toast and then can I have a breadstick. And some milk?”.

It was one of those moments where he speaks with such clarity, when he knows what he wants and gets it across how he wants it. Where at some words he stumbles and takes a few seconds to work out how to say what he means and out it comes. And it’s a moment that always makes my heart swell with pride and love.

Once home, we spent an hour chilling out while he ate his toast and breadstick and drank his milk. He watched an episode of Sooty, we spoke to daddy and I ran his bath.

Bath-time was its usual fun self apart from the hair washing which always pees him off.

“No mummy, I don’t have bubbles in my hair”.

Then it was time to get out so I could get him to bed at a reasonable time. Out he came, we had a big cuddle on the sofa while he was drying and it was all lovely. There had been several heart swelling moments throughout the hour where I couldn’t help but look at him with complete and utter adoration.

And then? Then he turned. He did that thing where he turned from an angelic little man to an absolute devil! Literally within seconds.

It all started when I tried to dry his hair. He hates that. Then I had to cream him. Anyone who has a child that suffers with dry skin or eczema will have a rigorous creaming procedure in place. He has been creamed almost every day for the past couple of years, and still he despises it.

“No mummy, don’t cream me”.

It set off a tantrum. It set off him tugging his limbs away from me. It set of screams and tears. And after that, I have to try and get his nappy on. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to get a nappy on a fully moisturised toddler but when that toddler is writhing around and thrashing his legs about to make it impossible for you to get the damn nappy on, patience is non existent. In these moments, I have to pin his legs down with mine. He is blimmin strong and it is blimmin hard. In case you are thinking, blimey that’s a bit extreme, why doesn’t she just give him a couple of minutes then try again? I’ve tried that…it doesn’t work and is generally even harder second time around!

So, nappy finally battled into and then it’s pyjama time. At this point he has made himself go limp to make it once again almost impossible to complete required task. I will never let him win though so I struggle him into them and that’s it, done. In my mood, I’d told him that there would be no bedtime story. That he would brush his teeth and go straight to bed. I asked him where he wanted to brush his teeth and he chose upstairs (our bathroom is downstairs), and so we went on up. He asked to brush his own teeth but we have currently conquered tooth brushing and I can do it far better than he does. He asked for a story, so politely that I couldn’t refuse. “Let’s make a deal”, I said. “You let mummy brush your teeth and we can read a story”.

We chose a story, I brushed his teeth and he then sat there like a little angel whilst I read a story to him. He couldn’t have been any different to the previous ten minutes of being a bloody nightmare!

How they can change moods in such a short time is beyond me. I dislike it very much though when we’ve had such a wonderful little evening together and then I have to deal with a little tantrum like that which for a small period of time, overshadows those beautiful moments we’ve had together.

Of course, it’s so easily forgotten. This morning when he woke up he wanted a cuddle and I got the biggest squishes from him when I left him with nannie! A bit like the one below from yesterday and the other from a few days ago! My boy is finally getting to be a little cuddle monster. Sometimes a stroppy cuddle monster but that will never stop me adoring him!