Hoopla

Poor old Maisie Mouse gets dragged around to all sorts of places regardless of her preferred nap times or meal times. I would never have even thought about doing this with Jack - being the first, he had a rigid routine that we stuck to, rain, hail or shine! He was an easy baby since his sleeps were at the same time every day, his food appeared on the high chair with regularity, and his time in between these was invariably spent cuddling or playing with Mummy. When Phoebs was born, she fell easily into Jack's routine, and I must admit I didn't see any need to change it. They napped at the same time, ate together, played together, and went to bed at the same time. At any given point during the day, I would know what we would be doing, when to make appointments, when I could leave the house (with a minimum of fuss...relatively speaking, of course!) Easy!

Unfortunately for Miss Mouse, the activity levels of the household are considerably higher with three kids. And so, the poor little poppet tends to take her morning nap wherever she may be (in the car, in the pram, on my shoulder...), eats wherever I serve it up (in the car, in the pram, on my shoulder...) and has a rather ragged routine when it comes to bedtime. On an average night, the three kids have a bath, eat their dinner, and have a play, before the big kids go to bed and Mais enjoys her nighttime feed / cuddle with Mumma on the couch. She is typically settled for the night between 7:30 and 8:30, depending on how quickly Jack and Phoebe are quiet (three kids under five sharing a bedroom has whiskers on it, I tell you!) and how desperately she seems to need Mummy's special drinkies. Currently it is nearly 9pm, and she is sitting on the floor playing with the Wii remote, happy as a clam.

Last night was no ordinary night.

My beautiful grandmother, Argie, had very kindly given us some tickets to Silvers Circus. As you can imagine, tickets to the circus are a bit of a luxury when you're recently unemployed, so we were pretty chuffed!! I was so excited about it, I didn't even stop to consider the ramifications of such a late night...silly, silly mummy!!!! Our lovely friends, Arby Bec and Uncle Chrissy, invited us for dinner before the show, so the kids donned their Superman and Trinkabell costumes (as you do) and enjoyed a delightful dinner being completely spoiled. (And we even invented a new recipe, called 'Risotto A La Sink' by tipping half of our almost-cooked risotto down the plughole...but we saved some of it and it was delicious!!) To be perfectly truthful, I would have been content simply to sit and chat with Bec and Chris all evening, but there was a CIRCUS to get to!!!! Oh my lordy, the excitement was ridiculous.

I must say, I was pretty impressed with the performance - there was magic, and juggling, and tightrope-walking, and a guy balancing on a big circle-thingy that went around and around...and THREE motorbikes in one of those circular cage dooverlackers. Oh, how Jack waited desperately for the motorbikes. He loved the entire show, but it would have all been in vain if those motorbikes hadn't shown up...and for the final act, they did. Thank goodness!!! Phoebe watched the whole show with enormous eyes, danced to the loud music and flashy lights, laughed at the clowns, and attempted to imitate the lady on the tightrope by lifting her leg up to her ear (whilst still on Arby Bec's lap - thank heavens she was wearing underpants!) Maisie, bless her little cotton socks, watched about 10 minutes and then fell asleep on the boob, amidst explosions, loud music and flashing lights. She woke up in the car park at the end, and looked quite confused!

Despite the long drive home, our kids did not fall asleep in the car - which meant that their bedtime last night was 11pm. Just writing that feels scary!! Once upon a time, I would have kept them home if I knew it would be that late - but I am so glad we went. Even though they were all a bit fragile today, and the tears came a bit more readily than normal, all things considered they recovered remarkably well. And my little Mouse, for whom 'routine' is a foreign word, coped extraordinarily well with her late night..and is now (at 9:15pm)starting to flag!

I must send a big thank you to Argie for the tickets, as our kids had a fantastic night. They haven't stopped talking about the circus all day! And a special shout-out to Bec and Chris, who not only provided a delectable dinner for us last night, but also spent a great deal of the show allowing our two big kids to climb all over them, or escorting them to the toilet. Christian and I are very grateful!!! Now, if we could just get them all to sleep...(note to self: will be a primary school mummy in two weeks - must create more responsible bedtime for children before then. And more responsible bedtime for self. And more responsible telly habits. Just be more responsible, full stop. Sigh.)