I knock at the door. Mr Frog answers, wearing his bathrobe. There is no sign of Tadpole, and I raise my eyebrows and look around with a bewildered expression. I have yet to partake of that important first cup of coffee of the day, so verbal minimalism is de rigueur.
Mr Frog leads me into his bedroom, where Tadpole is prostrate on her bed, wearing pyjamas and an extremely wide smile.
“She’s still in bed?” I shriek, “but we have to be at school in twenty minutes! It’s the thing where they are running in the park today, the thing I’m supposed to be supervising.” The thing which seemed like oh such a good idea when I signed up, but coming as it did after a bumper celebratory drinksfest (with some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet in honour of Anna’s birthday) I was considerably less enthusiastic when it involved me hauling my sorry carcass out of bed at 7.15 this morning.
Mr Frog smiles and shrugs in that very expressive French way he has; one twitch of his shoulders worth a couple of dozen words: well, you know, she’s tired, look at her, she doesn’t really want to get up, and anyway it’s not my problem because you’re the one taking her to school anyway, he he…
Meanwhile. I. Pace.
“What’s got into you today anyway?” says Mr Frog. “You’re making me dizzy. Look at the state of you. Did you stay out last night or something?” I feel the colour rising to my cheeks.
“What? No! Même pas!”
“So what was that thing on your gmail chat status about a date?”
Note to self: must stop being so informative on gmail chat. The whole world may not need to know that I have just picked out all of the chocolate flakes from a box of Nestlé Fitness breakfast cereal, or even (on a more cryptic note) that I have all my bases “uncovered”. And if they do, I should probably do this on twitter, which Mr Frog hasn’t heard of yet.
“Ah, so, um, you saw that, did you? Yes, well. I might have had a drink or two. A very nice drink or two. That’s all.”
Mr Frog smiles a knowing smile. “Well, good for you.”
When I get to school, the running thing is cancelled due to filming in the park. I try not to look too crestfallen at the idea of being able to go back home to bed.
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petite anglaise 
Amazing how Monday mornings are often full of surprises as though the weekends were a huge transition between weeks :)
Comment by Froggywoogie — May 14, 2007 @ 9:47 am
Dear Petite
Just to say I loved this. Life certainly _is_ like that, but you really do have a gift for making it real! I’m looking forward to the book.
John Norris
Comment by John Norris — May 14, 2007 @ 9:57 am
Facing monday morning without the essential first coffee of the day. Ouch.
Facing monday morning without the essential first coffee of the day AND having had a very nice drink or two the night before. Double ouch.
Comment by Sparkle — May 14, 2007 @ 10:31 am
Oh dear …….you must have felt very frustarated. You did well not to lose your temper!
So were you in England this weekend?
Comment by Sally Lomax — May 14, 2007 @ 10:45 am
Why would a fitness cereal have chocolate flakes in it anyway?
Comment by Daniel — May 14, 2007 @ 11:12 am
Er, so that mummy can be caught red-handed in the kitchen by Tadpole, eating all the best bits.
Almost as embarrassing as the time Tadpole *almost* found mummy’s toy under the pillow. But not quite.
Comment by petite — May 14, 2007 @ 11:15 am
Thank God for filming in the park, eh? I love Tadpole stories and can really visualize your pain over this one. Then I can sheepishly smile to myself when I realize I can sleep in, eat the good bits out of the cereal box and leave my toys where I like without getting busted by the child I don’t have. So I may not have a beautiful little one around with whom I can share unconditional love, hugs, kisses, bedtime stories and silly secrets; but then again there are compensations for being sans enfants, too.
And oh, the French Shrug. Speaks VOLUMES, doesn’t it?
Comment by The Bold Soul — May 14, 2007 @ 11:37 am
BTW nice story in The Paris Times. Happened to pick one up outside WH Smith, never having read it before, and what do I see when I open it? Our Petite (and the famous red bedsheets… oh la la!)
Comment by The Bold Soul — May 14, 2007 @ 11:39 am
LOL about Tadpole almost finding your “toy”…the juggling act of being a responsible parent and a “happy” parent :)
Comment by Caffienated Cowgirl — May 14, 2007 @ 1:44 pm
J’adore la chute. Tu vas pouvoir inscrire sur ton statut gmail : “hé hé, rentrée plus tôt que prévu, vais dormir toute la journée, bye bye, mes agneaux”.
Comment by Ménille Avénale — May 14, 2007 @ 2:44 pm
Sounds like you got lucky, petite. I’ve been catching up and just saw your post about Tadpole’s glued wound. I hope she’s much better now. My Youngest got hit in the nose by a pitched baseball at about the same time and, after determining that his nose was broken but not displaced, they gluded the nasty cut on the bridge. It worked wonders and I have to think that there will be less scarring than there would have been with stitches. Even fine French docs can be wrong sometimes.
Comment by Sophmom — May 14, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
Daniel,
The chocolate bits are just THE BEST and have no calories because it’s Fitness cereal, geddit?
Comment by Flighty — May 14, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Could have been worse, you could have let the world know what music you were playing via your IM client – one of those very annoying features which serves no useful puropse!
Comment by Andy — May 14, 2007 @ 5:36 pm
Drink?
Comment by adrian — May 14, 2007 @ 5:51 pm
C’est la vie, Petite!
I even know a little French!
Comment by Jean-Luc Picard — May 14, 2007 @ 8:25 pm
I pick the nuts and raisins out of muesli…
Comment by Ariel — May 14, 2007 @ 11:09 pm
Hmm, have to check out what Gizoogle does with dizzy.
Comment by Lost in France — May 15, 2007 @ 12:03 am
“Almost as embarrassing as the time Tadpole *almost* found mummy’s toy under the pillow. But not quite.”
Now THAT would have made for an entertaining blog entry. And how would you have explained it pray tell? :)
Comment by bonkers — May 15, 2007 @ 7:10 am
fo shizzle to tha nizzle
Comment by Lindsey — May 15, 2007 @ 7:42 am