Having left our children with nana and grandad for three days, the inevitable came to pass. Not only did they go to sleep for them immediately, they remained in their beds throughout two of the three nights, a record we have not achieved in the past six months. There were no tantrums, and our 14-step contingency plan for emergencies relating to bone breakage, kidnapping, fire or flood went thankfully unused. They even remembered how house keys worked throughout this period, doubtless thankful of the reminders I’d given them before we left.
Looking at these updates as they came to us in Ireland, I did feel that mild twinge of annoyance you get when your children behave better for others than yourself, but was overjoyed that we could enjoy Sarah and George’s beautiful wedding without fear of returning to a pile of charred rubble, or a pair of grim-faced in-laws intent on faking their deaths and moving to Peru.
