This morning I finally stopped procrastinating about sewing the iron-on mender onto my worn-out jeans and brown cords. The jeans are only just starting to wear through but the cords are definitely on their last, ahem, legs (sorry). K, who was playing on Starfall when I initially invited her to come and watch me, wandered past later and was intrigued by what I was doing, so I showed her how it all worked. Alas, that was probably the last really productive thing that happened today. I had intended to take them out to HIP, but K started complaining of a tummy ache. Since Mr Bat’s Pernicious Lurgi has prominently featured nausea and tummy cramps, I didn’t want to take the risk of exposing the other kids to something potentially infectious. So we stayed home.

They were whinging round my feet, asking for various different movies and generally behaving as though they were totally unable to think of anything to do that didn’t involve a screen, so to kickstart their imaginations I set up the toy kitchen in the living room, put out some suggestive dress-ups like aprons and handbags, and upturned a basket to use as a table. I was hoping they would take it further and play shops or restaurants or something, but it didn’t quite grab them. But then, since K was complaining bitterly about her sore tummy and lay down on the couch, I did successfully redirect it into a game of hospitals. H was the hospital head cook, and Flurf the teddy bear and K were the patients. He handed meal trays around, and they kept that going for a while. Eventually K’s tummy stopped hurting, and they played outside in the garden (including throwing branches onto the road and climbing into the ditches where they’re not allowed to go. Aargh). While they were outside and temporarily not distracting me, I got an idea for a parenting article and did some research and tried to organise my thoughts for that. After they got too wet and muddy in the garden they got out the farm and animals and played with that for a while, and we read through the pile of library books and another bunch of books from off the shelf. H and I also told each other stories – he is really getting into that as a pastime! Today’s inventions involved lots of horses, Big Bad Wolves (what else) and cuddles.

Eventually I was tired of reading and too knackered to help them think of any other alternatives to DVDs, so around 3:30 or so I decided to watch something with them. I picked Life in the Undergrowth because wildlife docos are about the only things I can actually sit through these days. K and I were both fascinated but unfortunately H was very restless and didn’t want to sit still, so it wasn’t entirely a success. I think he must be going through some kind of a growth spurt because he did.not.stop.eating all day. It drove me bonkers to be having to get him food what felt like every half an hour. When the episode of Life in the Undergrowth finished K watched her own shows,but H couldn’t settle at one thing for more than five minutes and drove me totally insane. He was obviously really overtired, poor monkey.

We had a quick, late dinner of bean and pasta soup after Mr Bat came home and cleaned the kitchen, then he sang H songs for all of about 30 seconds until he fell asleep, and I started on Little Town on the Prairie with K. And I really need an early night, because clearly I am not getting enough sleep to be much chop at this parenting lark. I just had a look around the place for something I could set up on the table to amuse them when they get up, and I could not think of a single thing to do. I need a bit more sparkle in our lives…