The King Of The Pancakes
Today looked like it would be the dodgiest day on the weather forecast and so it seemed first thing with a cloudy start. The breakfast was on a non bacon day plus Jamie seemed a little poorly - very red in the face which seemed odd, as we had smothered him in sun cream. So it was Calpol and rest for him while I took Ollie down to the kids club which he loves. There never seems to be about 3 or 4 children there and they have the absolute run of the place with limitless balloons, chalks, paper all the things that rate high in the currency values of little people.
With Ollie safely ensconsed I was able to head off to the Hiper Dino for more bargains galore - they have the most lovely bakery, fresh, gorgeous french bread and also Pain Au Chocolat which are giant - and full of chocolate for a very reasonable sum and infinitely superior to anything sold in Tesco. Whom I happened to notice while inadvertanetly glancing at the newspaper rack seem to be in more trouble back home of the horseplay variety. I also noticed another headline suggesting some sort of snow storm back home. Sorry to all who were there but couldn't help feeling a bit smug - but let's face it - who on holiday doesn't? Your turn will come. Other than that though I'm on a news blackout and blissfully unaware of anything going on back home. I've just got the paper I bought at the airport on Saturday and have pretty much read that cover to cover. I see that the latest thing on the diet front is this new 5:2 thing - where basically you eat what you like for five days and then practically starve for two. Probably a load of cobblers like all these other diets down the years, Atkins and all the rest of them which people make a fortune writing books about. Even though you could sum up the basic premise of all these diets on one page, even less probably. In fact I have developed my own proven formula which I too could be made into a bestselling book, but quite honestly I don't have the inclination, so I am going to give it to you, my loyal blog readers for free. It's called the ELPM diet and I can sum the entire thing up in four words. Here goes: Eat Less, Poo More.
By lunchtime it was pretty sunny though on the cool side with a breeze so I went up to reception to check out the weather forecast on the free Wi-fi. Which made for pleasant reading indeed - although today was indeed the coolest day of the week listed as 19c and cloudy, the temperature will rise steadily throughout the week to a lovely 23c and sunny by the weekend. Remember these are shade temperatures - the temperature in the sunshine is much higher, especially at this latitude. We are off the west coast of Africa, opposite the Sahara to put it into perspective.
We were going to eat out tonight, but with Jamie in a whingey mood and doing a lot terrible twos behaviour, we decided to check out what was happening on site at the restaurant and I am glad we did as they had a barbecue going outside and the food was much more up my street - sausages with a distinctly Spanish flavour, Burgers - meat unknown, but doesn't bother me, and chicken. Most acceptable and of course free. Jamie was in a bad mood throughout so probably eating out in a restaurant tonight wouldn't have been the best option. We went for a walk into town later, as pleasant as ever and then back to the hotel for the kids entertainment at 8:30 plus a spot of Bingo - well why not, and number obsessed Ollie enjoys it. In case you were wondering how we fitted all that in, well we ate at 6:30, essential when you have kids really. In the past on holiday, in the years BK (Before Kids) dinner would be more like 9pm, after a leisurely stroll round the harbour and a few cocktails. It would also last longer, a nice romantic 3 courses taking ones time. But adjustments have to be made, and now it's best to get the whole business over with as quickly as possible. Getting children to sit still and behave for more than about half an hour is a major challenge.
We continue to have battles at mealtimes over various fussiness and in a public place, sometimes it's just easier to give them what they want - if there is anything they want. Ollie is incredibly fussy over butter and will only eat Clover - anything else and he screams blue murder. We found some in a tourist supermarket and now we bring it along to the restaurant with us. For any self-righteous parents who are lucky enough to have children who will eat anything or even worse non parents who make comments such as " Oh if they were my children they would get what they are given, or go without", well if you really think it's that easy dealing with a fussy eater - you just haven't got a clue. I am much tougher at home but in this environment you've got to make compromises - and besides the boys reward me in other ways - like Ollie with his bravery in the swimming pool and when he does try new things for me. At the moment he's king of the pancakes they make at breakfast - he loves them and gets me to go and get them for him with requests for me to put numbers on in either chocolate or strawberry sauce. Why not indulge him - at least he is eating SOMETHING, and believe me, after 5 and a half years, that's good enough for me. Appropriate too as today is Shrove Tuesday. But for every step forward with Ollie it's one back with Jamie - my lovely good natured baby boy seems to have been posessed by the monster that jumps into all two year olds. Ironically with each bout of bad behaviour we have a commentary from Ollie, "he's being naughty, Daddy", often followed with "But I'm being good". Even though most of the things Jamie is doing, Ollie did twice as badly. How quickly they forget.
Jason xx
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