Last week my first-born child turned 10! Double digits people! It’s a big deal! 10 years ago I was 10 years younger and 20 years stupider and totally head over heals with the tiny little bundle of a baby that miraculously appeared (after 48 hours of labour and help from a vaccumy thing). I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or how I was going to continue doing it but 10 years later I think we did well.

S is lovely, charming, healthy, doing relatively well at school (he is a 10-year-old boy and he is a talker). He is constantly negotiating with me, coming up with different solutions to get what he wants but yet respecting the rules and boundaries that we set for him. Not all the time though, he would be weird if he did it all the time. But enough for me to happily give him more responsibilities and freedoms in his life.

His goal is freedom. This is what he works for. He loves going to his friend’s house without a nanny. I give him a mobile when he goes and he calls me from it to tell me exactly what he’s doing and loves being able to do that. I know once he has one of his own the novelty will wear off but for now he is very responsible with it. Anytime he can do something without adults he is thrilled.

When we were in Dubai I was having a girls morning with J and my husband was busy during the day but we decided to meet for lunch. S was at the hotel pool with B and K and their nanny so I called them up and gave S the task of going up to the room, showering and changing then coming to meet us at the restaurant (which was in the mall that was connected to the hotel we were staying in) on his own. He was given a mobile phone and set off on his mission. Their nanny kept saying “are you sure?” Yes I’m sure! He’s 10, we’re in Dubai and it would take him all of 10 minutes to walk to where we are. Plus he has a mobile phone. Plus, again,he’s 10!

S rushed upstairs, jumped in the shower and as he was getting dressed in super speed because of the excitement of his upcoming adventure; his father walked into the room. He was gutted! He was so excited to go on his own and was really disappointed his father showed up and was obviously going to walk with him. After I explained to my husband the situation on the phone we hung up and 15 minutes later my husband walks into the restaurant (which is no longer in the mall but about a 5 minute walk from the mall to another mall) on his own.

Then my phone starts to ring. ‘Whats the name of the restaurant mama?’ ‘which direction when I get into the mall?’ ‘is it on the first or second floor’ etc.

I was sure to tell him he had to actually leave the mall and go to another mall but that somehow got missed by my over excited boy and when he finally figured out we were not in fact in the mall he was in it was already 20 minutes later and he was on the opposite side to where we were. And this was a massive mall. Another 20 minutes later he walked into the restaurant all triumphant and proud that he finally found his way. True a 15 minute walk took him 40 minutes but he did it on his own and was over the moon. By the time he walked in the whole restaurant knew we were waiting for him and cheered for him.

On Wednesday S and J slept in my room and then spent the following nights trying to convince me to let them sleep there again. (Yes I am aware I jumped from one thing to another but I am too tired to come up with a good linking passage to sandwich in between the previous passage and this one. Watch out it’s going to happen again later in the post) Then they ignored my saying no and started dividing out the nights each of them would sleep with me in my room without even asking my opinion! I am so totally blessed that they like to be with me.

Even on days like today when my mood is stupidly immature and my temper is stupidly short they still want to spend time with me! I admit to them that I am in a bad mood and that I am not the greatest person to be around and yet they still stick around!! يا رب لك الحمد (Thank God). I am living in fear of the day I have to chase them down to sit with me. I know its coming eventually but now I am happy and basking in the joy of their company.

I haven’t mentioned B in this because he is 3 and 3 year olds will almost always choose their Mama’s over anyone else. Special K is now a 1-year-old and has always chosen the closest person to the floor to go to then proceeds to throw himself off that person to get to the floor (his first and only goal).

The biggest event this weekend (Second jump) was the “all star” breakfast I had with my fellow Saudi Mama (and soon to be mama) bloggers. Let’s see, we had M.R. from Under The Abaya, Nicole from The Same Rainbows End, Um Lujain from Lost In Riyadh and finally Layla from Blue Abaya. It was surreal let me tell you.

I brought J with me. She was not at all sure about the whole thing and didn’t understand why I would want to meet people I had never met before. She has not inherited my need for socializing with new people. I have an inability not to meet people and talk to them and tell them my life story and listen to theirs.

I also have an inability to not fill silence with words. If there is ever a lull in conversation I have a compulsion to fill it with anything that comes into my mind. This has caused me to say many stupid things in the past but I have come to terms with the fact that it is out of my control. Not surprisingly I guess since I tell a lot of my life story here! It’s a little frustrating that it’s sometimes very one-sided so to actually meet people who have read my stories and who’s stories I have read was so much fun!

I arrived and looked for a large table with a mother and daughter as I knew the first one there was M.R and her beautiful little girl. I spotted them and walked over, unsure of exactly how to introduce myself. Ya mama? Mama B? what? I think I ended up saying my name and mumbling “Ya Mama” after it. In hind sight this was a stupid thing to say as I was the only person new to this group so obviously that’s who I am.

Soon all the other lovely ladies and their gorgeous off spring arrived and we had a ridiculously yummy breakfast. But yet it was so insanely weird. I felt I was sitting with people whose diaries I had read before meeting them. I kept wanting to ask each one of them about specific entries in their blogs or aspect of their lives but I couldn’t cause I felt nosey! Like they would look at me and think ‘yeah I don’t know you so why are you asking me these questions’. Obviously I know they won’t think that because had they not wanted me (and others since the world doesn’t revolve around me) these parts of their lives they wouldn’t have written about them.

I kept the conversation polite and slightly superficial but I look forward to seeing them again and getting to know them better hopefully. Since we had our children with us it wasn’t exactly a relaxed breakfast but it was so enjoyable. The ladies were lovely and their children adorable. I am officially in love with Layla’s baby and he is in love with me as every time he laid eyes on me he gave me the best smile in the world. So this is me officially offering to baby sit him anytime you like Layla.

Oh that also goes for your unborn child Nicole as I adore new-born children.

This all sounds a little stalkerish but I am hoping since you all met me and sat with me for a relatively decent amount of time you know that I am not a stalker.

And there is no better way to end my post than with a declaration like that! I am off to bed!