I started working full time again in 2007. But the first 6-ish months were just hectic: trying to sort out how on earth you manage dinner and bedtime and laundry and cuddles and nursing and love and stuff in the context of the new separation.
But it was Shrove Tuesday 2008 that convinced me that we were doing okay. I picked Noah up and remembered just about then that it was Pancake Tuesday, possibly the only day in the Christian cannon that makes sense to me. I mean, pancakes. What else do you need to know?
(We’ll have none of that excessive Mardi Gras up here, thank you.)
So we stopped and got a box of (gasp) mix and made pancakes together and there was time for that and Noah had the giggles about pancakes for dinner and it was just so nice.
So of course this year, pancakes. I got to Noah’s school a bit early thanks to having burned more than my share of gas and oil and driven all the way to work, and picked him up with glee.
But I’d forgotten a snack for him. So he flipped out in the car, not so much because he was hungry but because I forgot, and then he kicked my car and I raised my voice that we do NOT KICK MUMMY when she is driving. And then I made the ill-conceived decision to stop and get a snack at the grocery store, and perhaps some whipped cream for the pancakes to make it super fancy.
So Noah and I had a 45 minute showdown at the grocery store. He sat down and cried, fairly quietly. But refused to move. I did think of just picking him up (who wouldn’t?) but I thought I could wait him out. A woman helpfully came by and said “you’ve been crying the whole time I’ve been shopping… you should tell your mummy you’re obviously too tired to be in a grocery store.”
Thanks Sherlock.
Anyways, got home now quite late for dinner and got out the (yes, evil) pancake mix. And Noah cheered up and helped stir (one reason for the mix, besides sheer laziness, is lack of raw egg) and then spelled his name for me: N-O-A-H-G. (There is another Noah in class this year.) So I could do it in pancakes.
It worked out, but it was not quite the same.
