Harry's Blog

We're at war with our children at the moment - the bone of contention being their insistence on getting up before six for the last few mornings.

Perhaps it's our fault for putting twins that aren't even two years old yet in beds rather than cots, but when they can walk and talk it seems a bit silly keeping them in a cage.

So a few months ago we made the leap to beds and on the whole it has been quite a success. Okay, so often one has to loiter outside their room at bedtime to quickly throw them back into bed should they feel the need for mischief, but on the whole it has worked rather well.

Both our son and daughter seem to love having their own beds and the ability to climb in themselves and cover themselves with their duvet, our daughter with our dolly, our son with his pig under his arm¹.

The problem at the moment isn't them fannying around when they should be in bed in the evening. We can cope with that. Slinging a two year old back into bed is not a major task of an evening.

No the problem is them getting up ridiculously early then running around on our landing having the time of their life. Don't they realise that for sensible people six o'clock in the morning is for (a) sleeping, or (b) being very grumpy². It's not for laughing and dancing around.

Yes we send them back to bed, but this operates somewhat like the snooze button on my wife's increasingly annoying alarm clock. It may give you a few minute's peace but there's no way to actually get it to shut up for a useful period.

I think we're going to have to bite the bullet and reduce the length of their afternoon nap which of course will result in them being more grumpy come tea-time. Grumpy children and my wife watching Neighbours are things I can cope with in isolation - but together, that's asking a bit much isn't it?

The other issue with nap times in the day is that it helps me get some work done. For the moment³ I'm the primary carer for our children⁴ and I also have a full time job. So I sit at my laptop while the twins play around me. Three mornings a week they are with their child minder and then they'll nap when they come home which almost gives me three full work days Tuesday-Thursday.

Reduce the napping though and I think we're in danger of making it harder for me to work. But let's be honest, I'm sat here blogging when I could be working. And I'm beginning to realise that I'm going to have to make more use of evenings for work over the next few months before we get our freedom and run off to the west.

Today though I'm feeling bold and brave. So I may not put the twins down for a nap when they come home from their child minder. Yes I may have to endure grumpy children, but that might also mean they go to sleep quicker tonight and don't wake up so early.

I have always been a night person. I'm really not cut out to be up before six in the morning, unless I've not actually been to bed yet.

_{¹Well he is half Irish.
²And of course sometimes (c) sex, but they'll have to wait another nine years for that like the other kids on the estate.
³This is going to change when we escape to Dorset in April.
⁴That's the theory. But wifey is very generous with her time in what should be my time.}