My Greatest Joy

My greatest joy these days is getting to do things by myself. Like go to the bathroom. Or eat a complete meal.

As a parent, all that you have becomes joint property with your children (at least in their minds). I am no longer allowed to have an entire drink all by myself. I have little grubby hands reaching for it before I even have the first sip.

It has been two years since I was allowed to go to the bathroom by myself without listening to a child scream. My son's favourite game to play is to pound on the bathroom door and jiggle he handle. Our main bathroom doesn't lock securely so if you put enough weight on it, it swings open. Hurrah. Just want, shrieking, giggling toddler when I'm sitting on the toilet.

The other thing I haven't been able to do in over a year is eat by myself. If I dare grab myself something to snack on that hasn't already been offered to the Sprogling, then heaven help me. I actually hid from my son the other day so that I could eat my breakfast in peace.

I fed him and his sister, plopped them both down in the living room to play and then subtly wandered back to the kitchen. I made myself a bowl of terribly healthy cereal and sat down to eat. It was at that moment that I heard silence from the living room. I grabbed my bowl and sat down on the floor behind our island counter. I heard the pitter pat of toddler feet and then "Mama? MAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaama?" The Sprogling hung over our gate for a couple minutes and then went back to the living room.

I got to eat the entire bowl by myself, I didn't have to share, and I only had to hide on the floor of my kitchen to do so. A whole five minutes by myself without children crying or grabbing at me.

 

Pure Bliss.