Today marks a very special day in the lives of the _rah family. There might be another post about the realities and challenges we are facing on a daily basis one day, but for today let’s celebrate what makes today so special.
The first cause of celebration is that it is exactly six months since Tiny_Rah arrived on the scene. I still remember it vividly as he caught us by surprise by turning up two days early.
His addition to the family has been welcomed but brought along with it its own challenges. Looking after two little ones is by my reckoning FOUR times harder than just the one, although such exponential difficulties do not continue with additional children beyond two as they just fit in.
Yes, more challenging but not exponentially so.
Some things are easier and are lesson daunting, for example with Little_Rah I was terrified of him for the first couple of weeks because he was so tiny and vulnerable and I was so big and clumsy. Thoughts of holding him or changing his nappy terrified me and it took a little while and a dose of harsh reality to wake me up to the fact. I regret those first couple of weeks as much as anything in my life, but the truth is the truth. However when Tiny_Rah came along it was a different matter as I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING. In fairness Mama_Rah was in the same position first time round too but she understood immediately what took me two weeks to learn and that is that you must have to get on with it.
Based on this Mama_Rah thought that having a second child would be easier, I always knew differently…
The biggest challenge is how to take care of both with them both having different needs and them pulling in two different directions. This is one of the reasons I have largely disappeared from actually posting on P0x in recent times. Little_Rah wants to play or has bumped himself while at the same time Tiny-Rah needs his nappy changing. Little_Rah is literally in your face with his need for attention when at the same time Tiny_Rah’s need is greater.
It’s like being a rope in a tug of war.
Ideally one parent deals with one and the other with the other, but this is not always easy. If one is working or in the bath or gone shopping it’s not possible to divide up the tasks, but these things still need doing.
It’s a constant challenge but both boys give back in delight <3
Moving on, the second reason for celebration is that Little_Rah, now almost three and a half, is moving on from his nursery days and is starting pre-school with today being his first day. In a few minutes I am going to take him along for the very first time and share the precious moment with him.
To be honest, I am a bit daunted (but I guess all parents are). Little-Rah was born during the Covid pandemic and consequently spent much of his first year locked down and then when he joined nursery it literally was one week on and then one week off. This is normal, but it then emerged that he needed an operation which he had about a year ago.
Then Little_Rah had further disruption when Tiny_Rah arrived and we were advised to keep Little_Rah at home.
What it means is that it has all been very bitty, and Little_Rah has had few sustained opportunities to develop his social skills. He is a very sweet-natured boy and he is potentially a little vulnerable to the rough and tough of the playground having not figured out how to deal with such situations.
Little_Rah on a recent trip out - good job the fence was there!
However, he is so smart that he will hopefully quickly learn. For example, he is bilingual, with English being his second language (that's why it is called the mother tongue btw) and the other day he asked me what the difference was between “do” and “done” and that is just off the top of my head. Even yesterday evening I asked him if he was organised and he said "No, Daddy. I am organising"
Such a clever boy, and I am sure he will figure it out.
Doesn’t stop me from worrying a little about it though.
As always stay safe and stay well my friends.
