Dig is back

Just enough time to dump some laundry on the kitchen floor, have an argument, fall asleep, and pack to go somewhere else for a few days.

We all look forward to Dig coming back, but when he gets here he's still living in Asia time so he tends to stare off into the middle distance a lot. Part of his brain is sleeping and the other part is thinking about all the work he's not been doing in the UK.

Now this is where some of the problems start. Because if you are aged seven, or forty seven, watching a jet-lagged, staring Dig slumping in front of his computer is not a great amount of fun. Consequently things seem to go downhill fairly quickly. The children get a bit loud and boistrous. I say they have missed you and are crying out for attention. Dig says they are behaving badly and need more discipline. I'll say well you're not here so you don't have to deal with them and when you do deal with them, don't deal with them like that, then Dig will say someone has to earn the money, and everyone will have a big fight. The kids will be howling and pelting each other with puffins, and me and Dig will be shouting at each other about child management issues and something really important like why there is no cheese.

So this is the first day back. It's a regular pattern now, and I plan for it. I have an activity for Shark, Squirrel and Tiger to do so that they are preoccupied and don't demand that daddy is interesting or exciting. I think to myself that if Dig's back on Tuesday, he's really back on Thursday, and if he's going again on Thursday, then he's in transit and not really coming back at all.