Letting go.
My husband’s parents are total hippies. His mother was the bra burning type back in the ol’days, I’m sure their recreational habits back then were not one bit legal, and my dear husband went to school with strange sandwich fillings he desperately tried to trade -to the absolute disgust of other students.
Of course, my dear mum-in-law is back to wearing bras most of the time and everything is pretty much normal in their household, but my greatest concern is how relaxed they are with Milla. This was a problem for me because leaving her in the vegie patch and allowing her to frolic amongst the brocoli and thyme was something that was incredibly likely.
I had been so worried about leaving Milla in their care for the first time and decided that short stints would be the best way to go before she pulled a lengthy stay and especially before she pulled an all-nighter.
We began with the day we had our 20 week ultrasound and if you read about what a disaster that was, you would understand that by the time we picked Milla up, I couldn’t care less what she’d been subjected to so long as she was still in one piece. Thankfully she was in one piece and as happy as can be.
A few weeks ago, they expressed their desperate desire to have her sleep the night. We were thrilled with the idea of going to the movies since it had been over two years since we last frequented a cinema (sad I know). But, I was so worried about leaving her and wanted so much to be a fly on the wall. I wasn’t reassured by my husband either because he also felt a little apprehensive about leaving her – but I couldn’t tell if this was just because it was the first time or because it was in their care.
We left her, and had a fantastic night – totally uninterrupted dinner (which was my favourite part) and a great film.
They sent a picture text to say that Milla was ‘having a ball’ with a photo of her sitting with the chickens in the chook shed and whilst I am all for a bit of dirt I was a little mortified that I wasn’t there to supervise.
We rushed the next morning to pick Milla up and there she was, and I kid you not, with daisies in her hair and barefoot and naked, grinning from ear to ear.
I realised at this point that these were incredibly important experiences for Milla to have. Although I try hard to offer a range of activities for her to enjoy at home and with our little adventures out each week, there is no better life experience for her than spending time just doing ’stuff’ with the ones that love her.
It makes for an enriched and happy life, and that’s exactly what I wish for her.
February 1st, 2010 at 7:09 am
You’re so lucky to have people who want to take your child overnight like that. And, I reckon, being dirty, running around naked outside, and catching bugs is definitely a cocktail for a perfectly glorious childhood.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:36 pm
My kids constantly look like street orphans from Oliver Twist. Everybody thinks they just have good tans little do they know the scrubbing they get every night to get all of the dirt off.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I’m incredibly lucky that I have both my parents and my in-laws close by and they take a huge interest in Milla. It’s hard when your expectations of ‘care’ are vastly different to who you are handing her over to and it is so hard to let it go.
We call Milla ‘Orphan Annie’ as like your gorgeous kids chelle, she is covered in who knows what from head to toe by the end of each day and hardly recognisable.
Oh to be a child again =)