The health visitor is a-visiting

I'm pretty sure Ryan never got so many home checks, but nevertheless, the health visitor has arranged to come in and do Ruby's 4 month check this afternoon.

I'm not one of those people who hang off my health visitor's every word in a state of awe. Especially since we moved to our current practice. When Ryan was just months old, I went to one of the health visitors for advice. A friend's son had contracted suspected Rubella, and being pre-MMR age I wondered what I should look for, and if he should happen to fall foul of the virus, what I should do if anything. That particular woman told me she knew nothing about Rubella and stalked off, chewing her gum. Ummm.... I thought she was off to get me a leaflet or find someone more knowledgeable so I followed her. When she noticed she said 'Oh sorry.... did you have something else to ask?'. I'm afraid from that moment, she was put into the 'Muppet' section of my brain's internal filing system. Granted, this lady is no longer with the practice, but I must admit to being very sceptical about the current lady who visits. I can't help but think that with four children, I could possibly tell them a thing or two about raising them. The official line on many subjects leaves me feeling that common sense should prevail (see earlier post on the weaning age).

Despite the above, why is it that I feel the need to make sure the place is running ship shape and Bristol fashion? Somehow, having a clean and tidy abode seems to correlate directly to being a level-headed and responsible parent. Now, my house is generally lived in but tidy enough, so it's not such a big deal. I think we do quite well despite having six people in one house. I guess that is partly attributed to the fact that my children do prefer to sit on their backsides quite a lot, I'm sick to the back teeth of trying to encourage and cajole them into 'doing something constructive'. The telly induced coma is sometimes useful, I admit, but for goodness sake, get off your bums!! Anyway, the result is, it's quite easy to keep the place relatively tidy, but lived in. So I've spent the morning hoovering and dusting, doing the odd dishes, putting the washing hanging EVERYWHERE into baskets, and shutting doors to the rooms that are just not for public viewing. Like the office which is wall to wall junk at the moment. I'm also considering carefully laying out a few toys on the floor, and strategically arranging a game of snakes and ladders. See - wholesome, thoughtful, loving mummy, who dedicates her days to the entertainment of her children. Would it be too much to put a loaf of bread in the breadmaker? Hmm, maybe. But I guess it would be best to put the Vodka away from the side in the kitchen.

I know full well that the health visitor will come in, be subjected to 20 mins of nonsense about Super Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong from Ryan, and instantly know full well that he does in fact spend much of his time either playing the Wii or asking for it, she'll see how tidy the place is and automatically suss out that it's been done for her benefit, and see that Ruby is alive & well and deem me to be..... well..... entirely ordinary.

So that'll do for me!!