It was very very tempting to drive Ellis to school today. I decided though that I had to walk as it will be the last time we walk along the river to school and as hot and sometimes painful it is, I will miss it.
On the way Ellis offered up his usual chit chat:"We will have two kids when Rowan be a kid."
"Rowan is a funny name mummy. You should have named him nobody."
Then he repeated Rowan, Rowan, Rowan over and over again (in that way one does until the word becomes nonsensical).
He seemed good at drop off - but then I realized it was because I was helping him - first to the toilet, then getting his snack (as we arrived right at morning tea time). As I was leaving - Ellis looked mournfully on.
"I want you to stay mummy."
Personally, I don't quite understand it. Why does he want the grumpy mummy, who says no to everything he asks, to stay? When I later picked him up he told me "I didn't cry when you left today mummy, but I was still very sad. I wanted you to stay."
I told him he probably had more fun at school as Rowan was trapped in a carseat and or stroller all day and did not get to play.
One comment on the way home:
"I won't fit in the back of the car when I be an adult, so I will have to drive."
I told him that he would have to stop at red lights then (his latest is to yell at me when I stopped at the red light - "RED MEANS GO MUMMY"
It's quite distracting having two kids heckling you from the back seat when one is trying to look at the GPS, remembering where 1st gear is and the turn signal. I realized I was mostly fine driving a stick shift except when entering onto the highway. It's hard to remember where fourth gear is when one is busy not getting smooshed by a truck.
While Ellis was at school, I drove back and forth between The Good Guys (like Best Buy) and Clive Peeters (like Future Shop) trying to figure out what fridge, washer/dryer, TV, kettle, toaster, iron, dyson fan and coffee grinder to get. Yup - I was told if we buy it all, we would get a deal. Is $500 off (on all those things) a good enough deal? I'm not convinced. However, we really do need a fridge and there is only one nice model that actually fits in our space and there is only one left. The prices that I got do seem fairly good already, so the $500 off is just an added bonus.
Do I risk it all and try the Saturday classifieds? Ugh - it seems like so much work. I think we are just going to buy it all at once and be done.
We had Fish and Chips for dinner (last time for that place too - it's good, but I can't see us driving back to Kangaroo Point just for that) and then we headed back to the store so Cyp could see what I had scouted out.
Of course, the TV I had looked at was fine - but look at this one over here! So I had to get a new quote with a better TV. We are now researching everything.
I have to call in the morning so they don't sell our fridge to someone else.
Postscript
After this post I spent the last 2 hours researching and found an online website. I just ordered my fridge, washing machine and dryer. Now that was easy. I hope they arrive ok.
Your story about driving with the boys in back heckling is hilarious!! In a heckling-is-funny-if-it-doesn't-cause-an-accident kind of way :)
ReplyDeleteI found driving in Aus. to be a challenge at first as well. My buddies and I had purchased a van with a manual four-on-the-tree gear shift which was completely knew to me. So not only did we have to learn to shift gears with the opposite hand, but we also had to learn how to shift gears on the tree.
Turning left and right were challenging at first as well... Every intersection seemed like it held a strong possibility for a major collision. Turning wide right into the far lane never did get to feeling normal. Let's not even talk about hook turns...
Finally U-turns were also dramatic moments. Especially, when we were already lost. Down some dead end street with no cars. It seemed like it was effectively impossible to do a u-turn and end up on the appropriate side of the street.
FUN TIMES
:)