Kids get bigger: 5 things 14.8.2017

• During the holidays I’ve been taking mornings… gently. Which is to say, we’ve all been utter slobs, reluctantly sloughing off our pyjama cocoons well after 10 or 11am. And it’s usually quite a fight. The other day, though, M surprised me by wandering out of his bedroom fully dressed, entirely without prompting, never mind asking for help. He decided it was time. He chose his outfit. He put it on. I mean, okay, turns out he forgot underpants, but wotthehell archy, wotthehell. Still a minor miracle.
• Slightly less minor miracle: yesterday C spontaneously decided to get dressed and go see if her friend L was around (someone she hasn’t seen in half a year, easily). Even more amazing, she invited M to go with her. This was 11am. They stayed out till suppertime. (Don’t worry. I did check that it was okay with L’s parents. But basically, C arranged everything.) A surprise gift of an entire afternoon… nothing could be more likely to convince me that it’s true, what they say, kids do eventually grow up, and you might eventually get your life back!
• Further evidence: we had two long and well lubricated social evenings this week, one planned, one not. (Scientific note: gin-fuelled evenings are a much better idea than wine-fuelled evenings, hangover-wise. Much, much better.) Used to be that things like this were kind of hard work because of needing to look after and entertain the kids. But now, apparently they entertain themselves, simply thrilled to be getting away with staying up late? I mean that’s certainly how I remember such occasions when I was a kid, but it didn’t work when they were littler. (M, darling boy, just comes for a cuddle when he gets tired, and puts himself to sleep in someone’s lap. C bounces around as long as she can manage it. Which is pretty darn long.)
• C has achieved her heart’s desire and is getting riding lessons! I’m kind of amazed myself. I always wanted to ride but it wasn’t feasible when I was a kid, and then as an adult there was always a shortage of either time or money. So I’m living vicariously through her. In my head riding is a ridiculously upper-crust pastime, but there’s a local stable with surprisingly affordable lessons, and it’s so close – like, just 10 minutes on the bike – and basically no excuse not to do this. So. Traditional horse-mad status activated! (Btw did you see her horse story? Yeah. Nuts. Delightful, but completely nuts.)
• One more week until kindergarten. Just one. More. Week. And then I’ll have two kids in school. After eight and a half years of full-time mommy duty (give or take a few months of part-time office work), it’s going to be pretty amazing to enjoy my own company again for more than two hours at a stretch.

No 31 of #52recipes: grilled peach splits. Good, but honestly, not worth that much fuss. Grilled peaches: good plan, but stick with cinnamon sugar, not maple syrup – you need the texture. Caramel sauce: good plan. Pecan cookie crumbs: honestly? Underwhelming. If you want to get fancy, stick with toasted pecans and caramel sauce, but just the peaches and ice cream are really enough.