Lucky

When we had Jarvis (well, even before we had Jarvis), it had never occurred to me that I'd be anything other than a Stay At Home Mum - it honestly never even entered my mind!

I didn't realise at the time that I had a distinct advantage in the 'not being driven mad by groundhog day/extended periods with only a 2 year old to talk to' stakes because of my previous life as a teacher - hanging out with small people is my thing, I love their hilarious conversation (Mummy, Fireman Sam is coming soon to help Rory fix the tractor...), I love the way they just want to help out with everything (which does make everything take a whole lot longer, but makes crappy housework jobs a million times more fun!). 

I love watching imagination develop - seeing a small boy set up an emergency so Fireman Sam can come & rescue him is truly awesome - the detail in his scenarios is fantastic (yes, we have a Fireman Sam theme going on here right now. Firemen are the order of the day)!

Anyway, I guess where this is going is that I'm truly thankful that I get 100% 'job satisfaction' from hanging out with my little guy! I know being a full time SAHM definitely isn't for everyone - if spending all of your waking hours with small children wasn't your initial career choice I imagine it would be a very strange experience indeed. Kind of like if I went to try and be an accountant, or a lawyer, or a police officer, with no training or experience! 

I'm thankful that I've managed to integrate my 'paid' job (ha ha ha...paid...one day...) of teaching music to small (and large) children into my life as a Mummy, and I'm thankful that I have the best teaching assistant in the world. Seeing my little boy pull up a chair and sit next to me during a guitar lesson holding his ukulele, strumming away, is priceless. 

I'm not saying that sometimes I wouldn't give anything for a little break - with no family anywhere nearby, some days can be very long! Many months can pass between haircuts (thank goodness I realised one of the playcentre ladies was a hairdresser in a former life...gotta love someone who'll bring her hairdressing scissors along to playcentre & give your fringe a trim!), and I unashamedly use a ten minute episode of Fireman Sam as a cup of tea break (fortunately that then leads onto half an hour of Jarvis initiated imaginative fireman play!)! 

I'm very, very lucky. I get to experience Jarvis's fabulous adventures alongside him, I get to keep my creativity alive by teaching music, and most 'luckily' of all I honestly love it. 

And I'm looking forward to the adventures that late September will bring - and seeing 'Fireman Jarvis' morph into the spectacular big brother I know he'll be! 

Bring on many more days of playing swingball with ten balloons hanging from the lounge ceiling (yes, that's our lounge right now!), hiding in our secret hut for sushi picnics, bashing nails into bits of firewood for hours, and baking some of the weirdest looking bread anyone has ever seen or consumed. 

Magic :)