The other huge surprise that arrived with him was how much emotion I felt - more love and joy than I could ever have imagined (but subconsciously longed for), and harder times than ever before, when something was wrong with him and I was exhausted. But those low times were - and have since always been - buffered by the knowledge that this darling little chap was real and with us.
And so it is with so many of my experiences with these two children - the good and the bad, hand in hand. Take the other day, when Anna and her friend decided they should have a tea party in our bathroom, with banana smoothies in my best lady tea cups. All went well, if you don't count the etiquette breach that occurred when that they knocked back the smoothies like cowboys drinking whisky in a bar.
Then it happened. They set the boat they'd made sailing in the bath. The many tiny stones and beans that had been filling Anna's 'rainmaker' instrument would make great fish food, they decided.
Those little things did make a realistic pond base. All 500 or so of them. But getting them out of the bath? The girls didn't see it as their job, and although Anna tried, it was very hard. Even for me, and of course it was me that ended up doing it.
It's hard finding the right balance - letting their imaginations go wild vs. keeping the house reasonably clean and tidy. Sometimes it's one or the other, and the cutest and most fun things really are too much at 7pm for a tired mother who needs to get children bathed and into bed.
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