The Irish Homecoming - No bark, but lots of bite! - a trip to the park that will not be forgotten

Colum had a trip that he has yet to forget, much to the chagrin of mother April

Sunday morning I brought both kids (Colum and his seven-month-old sister Sadie) back to the same park. Colum was excited all morning about the idea of going to play.

“Car, I go park mommy,” was all I was hearing since breakfast. Eventually pulling myself together, I packed them into the car and drove the 10 minutes to the nearest park.

Colum spoke to himself the whole way down about the fun he was going to have. It wasn’t until we pulled into the car park that he begun to change his mind.

“No mommy, no park.”

I couldn’t understand the flip.

“Have you a dirty nappy Colum,“ I asked, thinking he was uncomfortable walking or something.

“No poop.”

“Stay car, Sadie go park,” he continued, suggesting I take his little sister and leave him behind.)

“Colum, why don’t you want to go to the park? It will be great fun,” I said convincingly.

“Baby bite,” he said while pointing to his cheek.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had nearly forgotten the incident but he certainly hadn’t. My heart broke that he was afraid of the little boy and the park.

It took a few more minutes of convincing him that the boy wasn’t at the park and he would have lots of fun. He was cautious though. He was stuck to my side for about 15 minutes but eventually braved the park and all its activities.

He didn’t go near the pretend house, though, and I’ve a feeling he won’t be making mommy dinner anytime soon.

We enjoyed the rest of Sunday cleaning up the house, doing the grocery shopping, preparing dinners and doing a bit of work.

Monday rolls around too quickly sometimes for my liking. Both kids seemed to be coming down with something when I dropped them off at day care. I had to go to work. I should have stayed in bed. It was one of those days!

It began with bumping my new car into a curb and doing some minor damage to the underbelly of it, much to my husband’s disgust.

“Why weren’t you looking?” I was asked in a not-so-friendly tone.

“I was tired,” I grumbled.

Anyway, I parked up the car and went to work. I work as a sign language interpreter traveling the length and breadth of Ireland when needed. This particular Monday I had a job in Limerick.

I was a little disheveled. The hair wasn’t combed very well earlier in the morning, the make-up was slapped on and I forgot the perfume. I threw on a forgiving oversized purple dress (I think it may even have been an old maternity one) and an old pair of boots.

I got through the morning (after two Diet Cokes) okay. I had an hour off for lunch and I needed to move my car from where I parked it. Apparently clamping was a given if I overstayed my time limit.

The walk to the car was approximately 20 minutes. I had finally woken up. The air was fresh and there was a slight nip in it.

As I strolled briskly I could feel several people look at me funnily as I went by them. I really must look a mess I thought to myself, not really caring though. I was about a minute away from the car when finally a nice young thing approached me and said, “Excuse me, but I just want to tell you you’re dress is stuck in your knickers.”

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