James Proclaims!

What a difference a day makes. It might well be a week since last I posted anything but it’s merely a day since I wrote last week’s post (and indeed the post of the week before). It is Wednesday 29^th May as I write this and I’m sat on a bench in a park that is but a few minutes walk from Proclaims Towers, enjoying weather that seemed unthinkable yesterday. Little Proclaims is sat next to me happily eating an ice-cream purchased from a conveniently located ice-cream van that is doing a roaring trade. Indeed, it is this very purveyor of frozen treats that has lured my eldest daughter away from her flatulent tablet and into the park for a second helping of outdoor fun today.

Little Proclaims has made short work of the ice-cream in the time it took me to write that first paragraph, and we’re heading into the play park, which is predictably popular considering the sunshine.

Earlier on I was in the same place with both of my children facilitating a morning of feeding ducks, picking daisies (before said daisies were deposited in my pocket, where they continue to reside) and lots of fun aided by swings, slides and roundabouts.

Mini Proclaims gave it her all in the morning session and is now enjoying a well-deserved nap at home while Mrs Proclaims eschews the fine weather and works tirelessly on her PhD.

Little Proclaims also enjoyed her trip out this morning and might well have described the sojourn as perfect but for the slight disappointment that ensued when I refused to buy her an ice-cream on the way home. My refusal was predicated on the fact that we were going home to eat lunch and I felt the best way to ruin lunch would’ve been to feed my children with ice cream prior to attempting to convince them to eat salad. Also, had I bought an ice cream for Little Proclaims, I would have been obliged to buy one for Mini Proclaims and few things distress me more than watching my two year old attempt to eat ice cream.

Little Proclaims took the refusal well and has on the whole been a good girl today, including a very committed effort in her morning swimming lesson so, given the proximity of the park to my house, and the wonderful weather, I felt a second trip out was merited. Particularly as, with only my eldest child to look after, my workload is significantly lower than when I have to supervise both children.

Indeed, Little Proclaims largely looks after herself. When I’m out in public with both children my attention is nearly always exclusively directed towards my younger daughter, while supervision of the older child is generally making sure I can see her with sufficient regularity to be certain she is still roughly in the same proximity as me. When it’s just the two of us, it really is quite an easy gig as parenting goes. So much so that writing a blog post on my phone is entirely possible and arguably easier than when I attempt the same exercise in my garden. In the garden, Little Proclaims is fairly inclined to want my attention. In the park she only wants me as a purchaser of ice cream and a useful repository for any artefacts she doesn’t currently have need of.

Occasionally she likes me to push her on the swings, but I am so well practiced at swing-pushing that I am doing that at present, with my left hand while continuing to write this with my right hand. Multi-tasking at it’s finest.

I don’t think I yet possess the requisite skills to write blog posts while supervising a two-year old in a play park. That might constitute bad parenting. Supervising a near six year old on the other hand seems like a tailor made situation for writing prose. Little Proclaims does not seem to be enjoying the trip out any less than she would with my undivided attention and for my part, it’s made what can be an excruciatingly dull activity far more palatable. As long as the weather holds this could be template for how me and Little Proclaims navigate holiday afternoons for the foreseeable future.

At least until Mini Proclaims gets too old for naps and ruins the accord.