![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
care and feeding of Jenners
Sep. 19th, 2012 02:28 pmSaturday was a day of assorted sitting. All Jenner siblings and assorted partners were helping out with the care of my in law's place. The in laws were off to some do up in Oxford celebrating a bunch of people's birthdays. There had been a slew of emails and phone calls and discussions about how to care for the place and tend to the visitors. Dr. Jenner isn't good with giving up control of the place, despite his occasional moans about keeping up with the business. (oldest child yo.) There was a folder filled with all the information about how and when to do EVERYTHING. My sister in law and my middle brother in law were handling the tidying/change overs in anticipation of visitors. Mr. Jenner was going to let in visitors and tend to animals. I was hanging with the kids. All of that went well. Mr. Jenner even sold another holiday, though it meant that he had to sleep in the office instead of that flat. Hey money!
Now my sister in law and my brother in law were going off to one wedding, and my other brother in law and his new girlfriend were going to another wedding. (she brought her daughter along, so there were a lot of kids running around the place) After lunch and some pancakes, it was agreed upon that I would watch the twins along with my own kids so that their parents could attend the wedding without having to spend much of the ceremony out in the grave yard. This is one of those realities of having small children and attending weddings. The deal was that I would watch them until a certain point or until I needed to call them and say, "they are flipping out." The twins are rather shy and aren't always comfortable around their own relations, which is okay. One of the girls is more high-needs than the other, and I am sympathetic as I was like that at that age. I haven't really ever watched them before and I was kind of nervous because I know how they get when they are upset and really worried. I am all right with my own kids but I sometimes think I am not the most maternal person on the block. I don't have that Julie Andrews quality that some people have. I think of Cerrie on Cbeebies who is so gentle and sweet. I tend to talk to kids like they are world weary forty two year olds who are tired of this shit. "mmm yeah. It is certainly not fair that you don't get to eat that bag of sugar like you want." "So how long have you've been divorced?"
I figured the best way to approach things was to keep them distracted by doing things. I had the kids help me make cupcakes. It's kind of my go to for winning over children. "here... baked goods." Then we went and played with the animals, looked through Nana's garden (found raspberries) and then decorated those cupcakes. It helped to make the time go by and after awhile the four kids were playing together on their own. I wondered if I should engage with them a bit but they seemed to be handling things. There were a few squabbles I had to cool down, and in a few cases they worked it out on their own. At one point Miss Biscuit had a run in with the nettles and was obviously upset. While waiting for us to get some cream for her welts, one of the twins was very sweet about comforting her. I made them dinner, mine enjoyed the macaroni and cheese, the twins ate all the fruit and veg. Eventually their Dad showed up and was impressed that they lasted several hours. GO ME!
The twins had lots of good things to tell their parents and my sister in law said she was amazed that they handled it so well. Baked goods win again. She also told me that the girls had talked about taking care of Miss Biscuit at school but Miss Biscuit made it clear that she didn't need to be taken care of, and they were disappointed by that. I had to laugh about that. That is Miss Biscuit. "I can take care of myself thank you." But they all like being in preschool together, which is grand.
The in laws came back the following day and were pleased that things looked so well, and that they were left some cake and things. I hope that my Father in law will feel like he can leave the place a little more often now that he can see that he can leave for the weekend and know that the place will still be standing when he comes back.
Now my sister in law and my brother in law were going off to one wedding, and my other brother in law and his new girlfriend were going to another wedding. (she brought her daughter along, so there were a lot of kids running around the place) After lunch and some pancakes, it was agreed upon that I would watch the twins along with my own kids so that their parents could attend the wedding without having to spend much of the ceremony out in the grave yard. This is one of those realities of having small children and attending weddings. The deal was that I would watch them until a certain point or until I needed to call them and say, "they are flipping out." The twins are rather shy and aren't always comfortable around their own relations, which is okay. One of the girls is more high-needs than the other, and I am sympathetic as I was like that at that age. I haven't really ever watched them before and I was kind of nervous because I know how they get when they are upset and really worried. I am all right with my own kids but I sometimes think I am not the most maternal person on the block. I don't have that Julie Andrews quality that some people have. I think of Cerrie on Cbeebies who is so gentle and sweet. I tend to talk to kids like they are world weary forty two year olds who are tired of this shit. "mmm yeah. It is certainly not fair that you don't get to eat that bag of sugar like you want." "So how long have you've been divorced?"
I figured the best way to approach things was to keep them distracted by doing things. I had the kids help me make cupcakes. It's kind of my go to for winning over children. "here... baked goods." Then we went and played with the animals, looked through Nana's garden (found raspberries) and then decorated those cupcakes. It helped to make the time go by and after awhile the four kids were playing together on their own. I wondered if I should engage with them a bit but they seemed to be handling things. There were a few squabbles I had to cool down, and in a few cases they worked it out on their own. At one point Miss Biscuit had a run in with the nettles and was obviously upset. While waiting for us to get some cream for her welts, one of the twins was very sweet about comforting her. I made them dinner, mine enjoyed the macaroni and cheese, the twins ate all the fruit and veg. Eventually their Dad showed up and was impressed that they lasted several hours. GO ME!
The twins had lots of good things to tell their parents and my sister in law said she was amazed that they handled it so well. Baked goods win again. She also told me that the girls had talked about taking care of Miss Biscuit at school but Miss Biscuit made it clear that she didn't need to be taken care of, and they were disappointed by that. I had to laugh about that. That is Miss Biscuit. "I can take care of myself thank you." But they all like being in preschool together, which is grand.
The in laws came back the following day and were pleased that things looked so well, and that they were left some cake and things. I hope that my Father in law will feel like he can leave the place a little more often now that he can see that he can leave for the weekend and know that the place will still be standing when he comes back.
