Not many people know that our children are adopted. We went from being two lonely souls bouncing around a big empty house to “the five of us” overnight a few years ago (I keep thinking it was only a couple of years ago, but the christmases are flying by with increasing speed).
I wrote this down about the first nine months of having the children, but reading it back, it’s amazing how much of it still holds true;The kettle will always be empty when you go to make a coffeeThere will never be any milk left for you when you want to make a hot drinkThere will never be matching socks in the drawerWork clothes will never be washed or ironed in advanceNo flat surface will remain free of junkThe fridge and freezer will become festooned with magnetic letters and numbersEvery simple task will end up becoming complicatede.g. draining pasta over the sink will require emptying the sink of washing upwhich will require emptying the dishwasher in order to swap contentswhich will invariably not have been switched on anyway.
Several rooms will have cork boards attached to the walls.
Every cork board in the house will have discount vouchers for various supermarkets or day-out venues pinned across it’s entire surface areaseveral layers deep in places.
Every important piece of paperwork that arrives in the post will become lost if not dealt with immediatelyTrying to use an “in-tray” is hilariously ridiculous. Within 1 day it will be 1 foot deep.
No amount of washing and/or ironing will make any difference what so ever to the amount of washing left to doWalking barefoot around the house is liable to cause injuryAny deviation from foods eaten before by little people is a waste of timethe food will end up in the bin no matter how great it looks, smells, or tastesthis is inversely proportional to the amount of time it took to make too.6am is a great time to be up and making lots of noiseTelling little people to be quiet works until you have walked back across the landing.
No answer of “Yeah” or “No” means anything (example”Did you do that?” “Yeah” “Did you walk on the moon too?” “Yeah”)Apparently curling up on the floor with your face in your hands, bum in the air, is an appropriate answer to anything you don’t want to do (such as go to school without your scooter, not have a chocolate bar, take wellies off before walking through the house, etc, etc).
Any concept of “free time” is laughable.
Getting up at 7 will not seem that earlyBy far the most expected or unexpected observation (depending on your perspective) is one that we realised very early onwithin weeks of our children coming to live with us;When the children are playing in a park, you will recognise their individual cry on the first cry, no matter the distance. You will know if it is fake or real. You will know where it is coming from. You will have no idea how you know.