Fostering Blog
Saturday
It was one of those rare times when we had very little planned for the weekend. We had prepped the girls last night about staying in bed a little longer in the morning. There was no need to rush to get up and ready. I reminded them all how difficult it has been getting up for school each day this week and now they could really enjoy the fact that they could stay in bed for as long as they wanted in the morning. I don’t know whether putting the thought of a “lie-in” to them jinxed the whole thing or whether it was just coincidence and bad luck, but at 6am Alice was wide awake.
It is unfortunate for us all that Alice has no inner monologue. She began with announcing that she was wide awake. She wanted someone to get her up. When no one went in to her she started to sing at the top of her voice. I have to admit I lay very still and pretended to be asleep as long as possible. I’m pretty sure Charlie was doing the same. Who would give in first? It felt like a bit a game and I was pretty determined that it would not be me getting up, but when a bleary eyed Lauren wandered into our room asking what time it was, I knew I had to get up before everyone else was awake too.
I went in to Alice’s room and whispered very quietly that she needed to go back to sleep as it was still night time. She was sitting up in bed playing with her teddies, not looking at all convinced. She wanted the light on. I knew once the light went on that there would be no chance of getting her back to sleep. I whispered again that it was night time and she needed to be quiet as she would wake the two older girls. I could tell that this was not something that bothered her. She was awake and wanted to get up. I left the room hoping that once the door was shut she would settle down.
On this occasion she stayed in her room, she wasn’t completely quiet, but she did stop shouting out and singing at the top of her voice. She continued to play with her toys until nearly 7am. Although the lie-in was well and truly out of reach, a long lazy day was still in store – its just now that day is a little longer with being up so early. During the week, I had thought we would all go in to town to do a bit of Christmas shopping, but now it couldn’t have been further from my mind. We were all quite happy to stay in our pyjamas, eat pancakes for brunch and watch lots of terrible TV. One of these days we will get a lie-in – perhaps when the kids have all moved out!!
A Less Ordinary Family Foster Care Blog
