Daphne

I turned 34 yesterday. That’s like terrifying mid thirties territory – I mean, not too long ago, I was a bright eyed 25-year-old, and now I’m 34 and what’s next? 60??

I thought it’d be scary being this old but turns out, it’s really not so bad.

Yeah ok, there’s the part where I’ve lost track of how old I actually am when I’m filling out forms and I have to do that counting thing with my year of birth to be sure, plus I can sometimes feel myself aging rapidly with all these bodyaches and reduced mobility, but I suspect that’s just what happens when you have far too many pregnancies.

This morning over breakfast, Finn tried to guess how old I am and he was like “Are you 8 years old?”

“No, much older than that.”

“Are you 100???”

“WHAT?? That escalated quickly. Do I look 100? I’m MUCH MUCH YOUNGER than that.”

“Are you 99?”

“Ok, this game is gonna take a while. Why don’t I just skip to the part where I tell you that mommy’s 34.”

“Phew, I thought you were super old like 100. I like you to be 34,” he said with visible relief.

“Wow, ok, thanks for that. I like to be 34 too.”

Which is true. My 20’s were ok, it was great to be young and feel young, but 30’s is where it’s at. Hopefully I can say the same about my 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.

When I was younger, I used to dread the thought of getting really old one day, but I’m starting to think that being in my 70’s would be fun. The husband knows that when I get to the part where I’m seriously old, my plan is to be like Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey, delivering these caustic zingers with my deadpan icy gaze.

One of my goals in life is to amass enough of these one liners to deliver them at opportune moments later in life.

One of the perks of being that old is that you get to call it like it is and people generally take it even if they don’t like it. That’ll be so much fun.

Also, how about Maggie Smith as Professor Minerva McGonagall? Nobody should be allowed to be that awesome. It almost makes me look forward to being old…eventually. Or at least, it gives me hope that it isn’t going to be all that bad.

***

Onto birthday matters, seeing that the husband had to be away for a work retreat, the kids made it their responsibility to plan a special day for me.

Kirsten even wrote a letter of excuse to approve of the husband’s absence on my birthday, so adorable. At first she was like “Daddy’s not going to be around?? How are we going to celebrate your birthday on our own??? Without any money????” But then after some consultation with her brothers, they came up with a pretty solid plan.

So you know how kids get really obvious when they’re trying to hide something and they were like this all week, whispering in secret and being all mysterious about their plans. They would come up to me and ask super obvious questions like “Um mom, so what is your favourite food in the whole world?” and “What kind of cake do you like the most?”

As a birthday treat, they brought me out for a date, or rather, they made me bring them out for date and buy myself a cake (which they chose!).

They also prepared a birthday present, which was to inform me that for the rest of the month, I’d be entitled to unlimited hugs and kisses because as they so eloquently put it, “We know that we’re your best present ever!”

Right about that.

Finn and Theo have a very interesting relationship. They mostly get along well until they don’t, which pretty much happens several times a day.

It mostly plays out like this…

Finn will be doing his own thing having a good time and along comes baby Theo who will observe him for a moment and be all like “That looks like fun, I’ll have that one favourite toy you’re holding, thank you very much” and Finn will be all “OH HELL NO.”

Theo will be yelling “SHAAAAAARE!!!” and Finn will yell “Baby Theo is snatching my toy, HELPPP!!”

I think the problem is that they’re both used to having Truett and Kirsten baby them since they were born. The big kids give in to them almost all the time and Finn is not accustomed to having another baby share in his babyness. Also, Theo is quite an alpha male type go getter, which is to say that he sees what he wants and goes to get it, steamrolling everything in his path.

My mediation techniques so far have been to let them work it out on their own unless there’s shoving involved and someone gets hurt. Sometimes Finn will realise it’s not worth it, so he’ll give up and go play with something else instead, but I don’t make him do it. Other times, he’ll round up his toys and make a quick getaway to some place quiet where he can play in peace, leaving his screaming baby behind.

To foster a brotherly bond, I’ve taken to putting them both to bed together so they can spend more time hanging out before they fall asleep. On the one hand, complete mayhem every nap/bedtime, but I think it’s been working because they’ve been getting along much better.

I discovered them sharing a yoghurt calmly the other day and this is unprecedented because when there’s food involved, Theo goes into full on rage mode if it’s not all making its way swiftly into his mouth.

Maybe they’re starting to realise that brothers are pretty rad to have.