The Pied Piper

There are some people whom children are naturally drawn to. It's not something you can work on, you're either born with it or you're not. Some people absolutely don't have it. Others are average (I'm one of those). But some people are kiddy magnets.

My dad is one of the latter. We have started to call him the Pied Piper. Emily and Gabriella follow him wherever he goes (or they would if they were allowed to, but his sanity needs to be considered too).







Everything they do, he must be around. If he isn't around, Gabriella will go after him, poke him and instruct him to follow her. Emily hasn't quite gotten there yet... she'll just wander around, looking for him and calling Nannu.







In the few days my parents were visiting, he was made to sit through endless games of Row, Row, Row Your Boat (and often made to participate too). He was made to sit through mind-numbing hours of noisy toys (and squabbles over said toys). His water bottle was stolen from him by those two sneaky little girls - who then went on to fight over it because they both wanted to drink out of it. Gabriella would then try to force-feed Emily her own water bottle. Emily would hit Gabriella. And Nannu had to be present at all times.

Nanna, too, could never be too far away. Showering was disapproved of by Emily as it meant she couldn't have access to her. They learnt how to fly like a butterfly and there were many, many hugs and sloppy kisses. Lucky Nanna!

Everyone was sad to see Nanna and Nannu go. And although they may very well be secretly relieved to have a break from Toddlerdom, they were also very sad to have to leave this morning.

Emily is now surgically attached to me and has a melt-down if I so much as walk three steps away from her. She has had tantrums about the smallest things and is generally grumpy. I know the poor thing is sad, but she doesn't. So there will be many cuddles until she is herself again.