Dear Ben,
This is what I saw when I came home yesterday. I heard a noise upstairs and there you were, crunching dry cereal, watching Tom & Jerry. Today, we are currently on different floors of the house and have been for the last hour and a half. You are watching some cartoon, having eaten your chicken stirfry (sans noodles) in your bedroom (don't tell Dad). I've been downstairs, eating while reading and now writing. This is bliss. Dad is due home soon, end of bliss! (Sorry!)
Ben, I love spending time with you, "just Mum and Ben time" we call it. It might be a lunch and hot chocolate in Costa, sitting at the high chairs in front of the window, commenting on who we see outside. It might be sitting on your bed after school, watching cartoons and just chatting about what you got up to that day. It might be on my bed, reading Famous Five to you ("Just one more chapter please Mum!"). Sometimes we sit and colour together; the scratching of pencils shading is all that can be heard. It might be listening to your practise your guitar, me joining in on keyboard and teaching you a tune.
But heck, it is nice ignoring each other. We've each just spent a whole day at school. I can't really be bothered to talk. You probably can't, although I did hear you commentating your own football match that you were playing on your tablet. ("And this is Curtis, with an amazing goal, his second of the day. What a superb performance from him this afternoon here at the stadium.") We have also just spent two and a half weeks together over Easter, so we've had our fill of each other.
I know, in a few years, I will be longing to turn back the clock to this time. To spend time with a son who actually wants to talk to me. Who doesn't grunt. Who doesn't smell (we'll we're nearly there already). Who is willing to sleep in my bed til Dad comes home. Who wants me to sit at the side of the park while he plays. Who wants me to pick him up from afterschool clubs.
But at this particular moment, let us enjoy our peace.
Love Mum x