Where's the tambourine?

Where's the trampoline?

We don't realise, as parents, that sometimes what we say is not heard as we say it.

There are many reasons for this.

It could be due to ear issues. Now my kids have their fair share of these such issues, meaning that sometimes they just don't hear so well. Selective deafness might be the culprit, but in fact it is not that at all. It goes deeper, and is incredibly frustrating, particularly when a parent actually forgets this, chastises a child for not listening, then they look at you quite forlorn and say "but I didn't hear you!".

Bad. Mummy. Moment.

It could be that they don't actually 'know' the word you are saying. It may be a word they have never heard before. It may be something that sounds Greek to them.

And today I think it was a combination of many things.

We had a relaxed day. I had one child in bed with me by 4am, then another rock in shortly after, which set off my "go to your own beds" alarm, which they did, thankfully.

The morning ballet commenced as per usual with the request to turn on the tv to which I agreed and prayed that they would be engaged enough by the idiot box to let me sleep just a tiny bit longer.

I don't even know why I hope these things. They are never going to happen. There will always be a "but I was sitting there" or an "I can't SEEEEEEEEE" or a "I was playing with that" or a "Muuuuuuuuuuum". There were several. Many in fact. I gave up and got up and put the kettle on. Then went back to bed, and each of the kids took turns coming in to give me cuddles, which I loved.

After lunch we decided to play some board games.

The first one was a take off of the old Hungry Hippos.

Never. Again.

Ever.

Ever.

I don't want to talk about it.

Suffice to say it did not end well.

Then my personal fave. Mr Bacon's Big Adventure.

Now we hadn't played this one before. It was a gem of a find off freecycle, the pick up of which allowed me to catch up with a dear friend who lived not far from the passer onner of the bacon game in question.

Anyway, the game. It involves squares that are not numbered, but which are coloured in by 'picture' colouring. i.e. there is a picture instead of a colour.

The pictures? Beef jerky, olive loaf, corn dog and pepperoni. Although vegan alley has tofu and a few other horrid non-meaty things.

The game itself was fun to play. Sliding down the bacon "slide" just made me salivate.

But what I find brilliant are the suggestions of how to play to involve meat. Gold. Sheer gold. We didn't do that today. Another day perhaps…..

And then I opted to take the easy dinner and take the kids to McDonalds. We haven't been in I seriously can't remember how long. That in itself was a decent enough reason to persuade me to forgo cooking to take them there.

They were great. Fabulous in fact. Ate their little happy meals, played with the toy and then went and frolicked in the brilliant play area.

I took that time to ask one of the staff members about parties, as Miss 5 is nearly Miss 6 and I haven't organised a thing. Nor have we ever had a Macca's party so it would be a bit of a novelty.

So I had a chat to the manager who said they didn't know if they would be holding parties there but would get back to me in the next few days, but had I tried the store at Tullamarine.

I said no I hadn't but I would check it out, gave her my details etc, and watched the kids play for a bit longer before we headed back to the car.

As we all belted in I said to them I might take a bit of a detour to see the McDonalds at Tullamarine, because I hadn't been there before and wasn't sure of the facilities. They thought that was a bit cool (extended trip out) and off we went.

I have no sense of direction.

We got lost.

We turned the wrong way.

And yes, I did have the map on. I still got lost.

So we ended up the wrong way and I told them we were going home.

"Noooooo…. we want to seeeeeeeeeeee."

Fine. Ok. Sucked it up and tried again.

And this time we made it there. We got there. I have no idea how. But we did.

And when we got there Master 3 said it. "Where's the tambourine?"

"What tambourine?" I asked.

"The tambourine. You said we were going to see the McDonald's tambourine."

"What do you mean a tambourine?"

Then Miss 4 joined in.

*sigh* "The musical instrument. A tambourine."

"A tambourine?"

(both) "YES!"

"I don't understand." I said. "There is no tambourine."

Then Miss 4 got it.

"No, not a tambourine, silly, a trampoline. So where is the trampoline mum??"

Oh. Kay.

"What???"

"THE TAMBOURINE!!!!" Master 3 yelled.

"THE TRAMPOLINE!!!!" Miss 4 screamed.

Penny dropped.

"Babies, we are at McDonalds in TULLAMARINE. It is a suburb. Like Essendon. And Melbourne. There's no tambourine. And no trampoline."

And I was having a teeny tiny chuckle. Like a lot.

The version above is an abbreviated version of what I was actually involved in. And I kid you not, it could quite possibly have been the best five minutes of my life. Best. Conversation. Ever.

I love my kids. So. Much.