Another Proud Mothering Moment

So, there was a playdate here at the Yellow house today. And really, the 5 yr old playdate is a piece of cake. The girls come up with cracking games all on their own, and motherly intervention is restricted to fastening buttons and undoing zippers. Today, they played Orphanage (as you do), and took turns being Miss Hannigan. The trick (I have learned) is to keep one final craft/cookery item in your back pocket so that when they get weepy and disagreeable you can announce it, ta da!, and potential ending of friendships is forstalled.

We were reaching that moment around 3.15, and so I made a deal with the girls. "hey girls, I just need to jump in the shower, and then we'll make Rice Krispie Treats. Pink ones, even, for Mother's Day. And then we can do that cool Spin Art painting project. Ok?" They seem to buy into my plan, and so I plonked Annika into her bouncy seat in the bathroom and whipped through the whole soap/shampoo routine.

Just as I hop in, Cecilie whips the door wide open to ask if they can play in the yard. My answer was "not while I'm in the shower, and besides, its raining, isn't it?" Somehow, that phrase in PreSchoolese translates into "sure, absolutely, because 5 year old girls can only benefit from outdoors adventures in the rain!"

The next thing I know, Cecilie is back at the door, shouting "MOMMY! ELLIE NEEDS YOU DESPERATELY!" Oh God. Really, I've done it. My poor mothering is exposed, a child has been seriously injured oh no oh no oh no. But oh, right - I'm stark naked. And there's an infant on the floor here that will howl the house down if I leave her here. So I shout down "WHAT is going on, Cecilie???" and I find out that BFF is stuck up in the new treehouse and terrified to get down.

So I decide that I at least have time to put shorts & a tshirt on and avoid streaking in my own backyard. but then, what do you do with the baby whilst you play firefighter and bring her down the steep ladder? Sure, set up the stroller, Naked Lady, whilst you're at it. So in about 2 minutes I've run through my old First Aid training, got my sweaty workout clothes back on, buckled Annika into the stroller sideways, and booked it down the backyard to the treehouse to poor Ellie, who is howling from the treetops "This was NOT MY IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!"

So, BFF is rescued, tears are wiped away, and Cecilie has quietly slunk away to the sandbox, working on the assumption that 'out of sight out of mind' is the smartest approach in this situation. (For the record, not only should she not have gone outside - friends are not allowed in the treehouse until Daddy fixes a solid ladder...)

Both girls are sent directly back to the house to sit on the couch for a second. By the time I make it inside I have calmed myself slightly, to the point where I can discuss reasonably the fact that they broke some rules, and that the rules were actually meant to keep bad things from happening, not just to keep fun things from happening. SHEESH.

I guess the moral of the story is not to take showers?