Tears and Tantrums-Fabulous Dahling!

Tonight's blog is taking twice as long to type as usual thanks to my manicure from Pui at Lush.  Having turned the big 3-0 earlier this month, I decided that "Princess" wasn't just a title, but a title I wanted to live up to.  And so I decided to realise a lifelong dream.  Acrylic nails were first on the list.  Followed quickly by semi-permanent mascara.  I booked in for the acrylics and was so delighted with the results that I immediately booked the eyelash tint.  As I plucked my eyebrows that evening, I was suddenly aware that the single white hair I had been plucking for months was back. With friends.  And appeared to be colonising the other eyebrow too!  A call to Pui confirmed that I could have my eyebrows tinted and shaped and so that's gone on the list of "things to do to not frighten the neighbours".  Being middle aged is hard work.  And my confidence was NOT boosted by Little Prince's observation that Princess Mummy without a bra is funny because her boobies go "wiggley waggley"!

Tomorrow is Little Prince's birthday.  5 going on 50.  And a party has been planned for Saturday.  The biggest - and rookie - mistake in my planning was telling Little Prince that he was having a party.  There's no excusing it.  I knew better.  And yet, there I found myself saying "So who are we inviting to your birthday party this year?"

In my defence, my mind was screaming at my mouth to stop moving, but sadly, too little too late.  So the upshot is that we invited 45 kids to the party, thinking that we would have a refusal rate of at least 50%.  Which we could cater for comfortably (with the help of the local sports centre).  Again with the rookie mistakes.  We've had 40 acceptances.  Even bearing in mind that a lot of kids wont show up (rude!) we still have to provide enough food for 40.  As well as party bags.  Which leads us neatly to my tanty in the aisles of Tesco. 

Working out how to fill 40 party bags for less than the GDP of a small country, while still doing Little Prince proud is quite a mission. Having found 3 small toys and 2 types of (individually wrapped) sweets, I was starting to feel deeply tense.  So when Little Prince started to nag about needing a birthday cake, Princess Mummy was not as sympathetic in saying no as she could be.  6 aisles and much nagging later, Princess Mummy stopped the trolley, folded her arms, stamped her feet and announced that "if I hear one more word about the party I will eat all the sweets, play with all the toys and cancel the party!"  As I looked to Prince Daddy for support, I realised the traitor had scuttled off to another aisle, leaving Little Prince, still sitting in the trolley, to bear the brunt of the shame.  And yes, we are STILL hearing about his party!

When you're ready to strangle an imaginary friend

So it's been a year since we last talked... Updates first.  Little Prince now attends school full time and has a best friend, otherwise known as a Partner in Crime.  Prince Daddy now works nights at a supermarket less than 10 minutes walk from the Castle. (and so is home for lots more time)  Princess Pussy Cat has been replaced by Prince Pussy Cat.   And finally, we adopted Prince Poochy who was a very cute bundle of fluff when he arrived, and has now grown into a very cute bundle of fluff with big teeth, a fear of the dark and the urge to defend the Castle from marauding tissues.  (Anything fiercer than a tissue and we're on our own)

Today we were introduced to the latest member of the Mummy Family.  Little Prince now has an Imaginary Friend.  Little Prince had stayed at Queen Mummy's Castle last night, and we went for the family dinner this evening. After dinner, Little Prince went to the living room, and appeared to have quite a long conversation alone. He then came out and introduced his Imaginary Friend to Prince Daddy, then to me. 

Imaginary Friend and Little Prince hold hands a lot and whisper together, although Imaginary Friend doesn't appear to have an audible voice.  Imaginary Friend was also the reason that Little Prince  would not go to sleep tonight as he kept talking to Little Prince  and wanted Little Prince  to get out of bed and play with the Lego, which, coincidentally enough, Little Prince  wanted to do before bed anyway.  Prince Daddy made it very clear that whether it was Little Prince  or Imaginary Friend's idea, Little Prince  should not act on it unless Little Prince wanted to be punished. 

When he came down, we Googled the whole imaginary friend situation and have found that as long as Little Prince does not neglect his real, live friends in favour of Imaginary Friend, we shouldn't worry.  As far as Imaginary Friend being the brains of the outfit and Little Prince doing things goes, Imaginary Friend should be held to the same standards of behaviour as Little Prince .  In fact, according to Dr Kutner:

"Imaginary companions are an integral part of many children's lives. They provide comfort in times of stress, companionship when they're lonely, someone to boss around when they feel powerless, and someone to blame for the broken lamp in the living room. Most important, an imaginary companion is a tool young children use to help them make sense of the adult world."

I'm seriously considering getting an imaginary friend of my own.  Someone to blame for the chocolate binges and "hoovering amnesia",  someone whom I can boss around without being told to "chill my boots" and someone to talk to a la Shirley Valentine.  And of course, someone who can make the grown up world make sense would be worth their imaginary weight in (not so imaginary) chocolate.

The Prodigal Blogger Returns

It has been some time since I last blogged.  Over a year in fact.  It has taken this long for me to lick my wounds and get back in the saddle after the betrayal I felt after a local newspaper copied and pasted entire tracts from this blog and attributed them to me, by name, as "quotes" issued to them directly.  To whoever did this, I obviously don't use real names or places in order to give, at least an illusion of privacy.  Although many readers do know me, I do feel that I should at least be consulted before being "outed".

Having got that that out of my system, I am now ready to resume blogging and to give my readers a commitment that I will regularly update this blog, filling everyone in on the exploits of Little Prince et al.