I was just lowering the blind in Flea’s room last night after her bath and bedtime story, when Flea quietly says “Excuse me, Mummy…”
I look down on her, all snuggled up in her duvet, hair smelling of Johnson’s shampoo, clean and pink. She’s a little miracle, I think to myself. “Yes?”
“Mummy, do you know who is my favourite person in the whole wide world?”
Ah, I think, here comes a magic moment that will make it all worthwhile. “No darling, who is it?”
“Sam.”
Hmm. Doesn’t ring a bell. “Who?”
“Sam. He’s not in my class, but he’s in the other class and sometimes I play with him at playtime in the big playground. He had pie today for lunch but I had pasta with tomato sauce.”
Now, if I was a smarter person, I’d have left it there. But oh no, I had to ask the question: “Who’s your favourite person after that?”
“Erm….” Well, at least she’s thinking about it. “Grandad.”
“After that?” Surely, I’ve got to come in third, at least.
“I think it’s George, but I like Charlie, too. And sometimes Harry is my best friend. Can George come to tea?”
“Whatever.” Possibly I’m getting a bit tetchy by this point. “Okay, so who is your most favourite lovely person in the whole wide world that you love the most after Sam, George, Charlie, Harry and Granddad?”
She gives me a look. Pauses. Thinks. “Is it you?”
“It is, if you want breakfast tomorrow.”
“I love you, Mummy. Sleep well.”
Well, we got there in the end, I suppose.
Oh too cute. We have that sort of thing in our house all the time…normally it’s Mummy I love you most in the whole world… after God of course! (Well that’s what you get when you send your child to a Catholic school – what did I expect)??
Reminds me of the plates that my Nan has on her wall “If Mum says no ask Grandma” and “If Grandma says no ask Grandpa”
Count yourself lucky. The LadyWife and I are outranked by Krypto the Superdog at the moment…and I suspect the grandparents too…
It could be worse, my son chose ‘Charlie’ who is, in fact, his bear. I’ve been trumped by something stuffed.
I asked my six-year-old who she loves most in the whole wide world, as she said her teacher! (He’s male by the way!)
@Maternal Tales – ah, that’ll learn you. 😉
@Pippa – Flea is taking that as a life motto at the moment, except neither of them EVER says no to her!
@CJ – I don’t know who Krypto is, but I already know I’m not introducing Flea to him.
@Dawn – Better than being stuffed by… nah, never mind.
@Rosie – Ah, bless – isn’t that quite common? (loving their teachers)
Awww. We’re going through a “I love X a million times to the moon and back” where X is usually a random teddy or a very distant friend. However tonight I got “I love you mummy to the moon and back a million billion trillion willion killion bazillion times” which made me melt.
Hope Flea is enjoying school BTW.
Yes, we have conversations like that. The only time I am the bestest mummy in the whole wide world is when I give and and let them have sweets.
That’s so sweet… When I ask Elliott who he loves best he says “humm… breakfast!”… Who knows maybe one day I will come before breakfast…
There’s almost a car crash mentality for parents when they know they should let slepping dogs lie but the compulsion becomes too strong. I had it with comparisons to his class teacher who’s 20 years younger than I – I really should have left it alone…