Little bear has been to the dentist

Little bear is complaining he is in pain with his ankle. I am a bit sceptical, but doing my best to be an encouraging mum as I somehow got him out of the house, onto the bus, off the bus and then into the dentist - while little bear was doing a very good impression of having rickets.

He forced himself to break the journey on the way back, to go to Forbidden Planet - a shop which specialises in stuff like Star Wars, Superheroes - and Dr Who. I got away relatively lightly, just a sort of gun looking thingy that is apparently a recorder and was half price at £7.50. No matter how much I adore little bear, I drew the line at the set of doctors at £50.

Little bear's teeth are fine, so we go back in six months. Little bear celebrated with an inappropriate mars bar. I was scraping the barrel coaxing him along as he limped, complained, cried, complained he was cold, complained he was tired and generally grumbled. Thank goodness school is next week.

I think the rest of little bear's day will count as a duvet day. He is planning on sorting his Dr Who cards out. It will take him some time, but keep him very happy. Meanwhile I will keep an eye on how the pain in his ankle comes and goes. The ankle isn't swollen or red, and seems to move okay in all directions, and sometimes the limp/bitter complaint is worse than at other times (or absent). However I will be dragging him to the doctors for a 'just in case' if it carries on.

Bad day for little bear

We trundled out of the house at 8am to get to the dentist. I had mistaken the day, we will have to go tomorrow. Then we trundled in a selection of buses to the softplay where we were supposed to meet little bear's girlfriend, but she couldn't make it due to an accident.

Little bear was devastated when I let him know I had had the bad news by text. He looked sort of Victorian with a stiff upper lip and a wounded expression in his eyes. He wandered around the soft play like a little ghost, then decided he wanted to come home after only an hour. In the past when he has gone on his own he has been fine. This time he was absolutely distracted, in a Romantic Poet sort of way.

We're going to write a get well card and with luck the star crossed pair can meet at softplay some other time.

Sleeeeeeep!

Little bear needs more sleep. So we have a frantic rush to try and get him to bed early enough. Because little bear has not mastered the art of turning over and going back to sleep in the morning. When he wakes up he immediately gets out of bed, grabs Ratatouille, down the stairs, thud, thud, thud, flings open the door at the bottom of the stairs, main light on (I usually sit bolt upright in shock at this point), shuts the door at the bottom of the stairs with a crash and then slumps into his chair.

Poor little man, he looks like he is half asleep. He is definitely tired, big eyes with no focus, sprawling out with Ratatouille under his head like a cushion. But he won't go back to sleep! I usually give him his breakfast, and today he has eaten and is now lying on the sofa looking boneless and gazing blankly at the tv. He needs to be asleep - but he won't do it!

It is not the getting him to sleep that is the problem, its the getting him to stay asleep. At the moment all I can think of is waiting for his teenage years to kick in. Something has to give soon.

Mind you - glass half full - not only do I never need an alarm clock, but there is also no sign of chickenpox so far.

A Mother's Dilemma

Little bear has had a Christmas card in the post, addressed just to him, from his 'girlfriend' (aged 4). I suspect her parents have had the same baffled response as us. We met at the little girl's birthday party, and they seemed as confused as us. Little bear still misses his friend and he talks about her a lot.

I will, of course, be sending a card back. And I will try and arrange a play date after Christmas. But I don't want to get too silly over it. Though they seem to like being friends, and it would be a shame if they didn't get to meet up regularly to play. She seems as keen as little bear. But they are four years old. They seem both fixed on the idea of being boyfriend and girlfriend. I don't know where they got that idea from!

My dilemma is, should I include a photo of little bear? I probably will. I don't expect it will be remembered and it will probably end up at the bottom of a toy box or something - which is entirely appropriate and fine. And I will try and keep viewing it as if it was a little boy that little bear really got on well with and wanted to play with.

Definitely too soon to start choosing hats.

Little bear's broken heart

Little bear burst into tears about his broken heart. He's missing his girlfriend from nursery.

So I shall speak to his 'girlfriend's mum and see if they can get together at soft play. Poor little bear, not quite five and his romantic hopes dashed all to pieces. He asked me to try and arrange something for Saturday. Even if I could walk for more than ten yards without coughing, I am not braving the sort of weather that is forecast, not even for little bear's broken heart. Especially as it is only a put off of a week or so.

Also, OH and I are absolutely baffled about where he got the idea of a broken heart from. He was absolutely devastated, though.