I am not a doctor

The children are coping remarkably well with all the changes going on around them over the last few days.  I am always fascinated to see how they adjust, mainly because I am rubbish at it.  As I said, I am not a natural nomad. Over the last few days I have been tearful, tired and excessively grumpy. I do not cope well if I cannot have some downtime where I just get to be me, and being on the road for four days with four other people, three of whom never shut up, has more than done my head in.  The incessant noise has meant that my head has just filled up to bursting point, and what with no internets for me to dump on, I have been going rather mental.  All of which culminated in me bursting into tears over my disgusting lunch yesterday and weeping into my scrambled egg in a pathetically juvenile way.

Oscar has managed most beautifully, only having broken nights when he woke up underneath the bed and wondered where the hell he was.  Most understandable I feel, and had I done the same I would have made just as much, if not more noise than he did on waking.  He has remained phlegmatic, totally unphased and generally sunny.  Although he doesn’t have a clue what is happening. He is still not sure if we are in Canada and does not agree that we are on holiday yet, because he has not had a chance to use his new bucket and spade.  These, these are the things that make a holiday you see. 

Tallulah has been much better than I imagined, although quite restless at nights.  The only time she got really upset was when she discovered this morning that she hadn’t packed as many pairs of socks as she would have liked, and ended up flinging herself into my arms and sobbing her heart out for half an hour.  After which dramatic outburst she has got on with things beautifully and has been sunshine itself ever since.

Poor Tilly has been poorly.  She has had tummy ache on and off since we flew on Thursday morning.  It seems to be some kind of stomach flu, and yesterday she woke up with a crashing headache.  We nursed it as best we could but the travelling was all too much for her, and by eight o’clock last night she had a raging fever and was the colour of an old sheet.  She was a little better this morning but lunch with her nana was as much as she could handle before she took a nose dive, and she has spent all afternoon wrapped up on the sofa, watching telly and drinking tea.  She is very cheerful about it, as long as she doesn’t have to do very much, so we will make sure our schedule is very slack this week, and we do lots of pottering around the house and gardens until she is fully recovered.

The children have done their usual charm assault on every adult we’ve met, which has made our progress through life so much easier.  They are fantastic in public, funny, charming and polite, and so very English that we win friends and influence people left, right and centre.  We, as parents, are somewhat of a let down, but you can’t have everything.

Oscar and Tallulah were playing something loud on the boat from Port Angeles yesterday.  Oscar was being a doctor and making Tallulah better.  Knowing Oscar and his scatalogical obsessions which are rampant at the moment, it was undoubtedly a bottom related disease, probably having something to do with farting.  Anyway, one lady asked him if he was playing at being a doctor.  He looked up at her and said in a very indignant tone: ‘Lady. I am not a Doctor. I am a Professional.’

Advertisement