I enter room and find Claudia playing the flute.
"I wish I could play with you on Monday, Mummy."
"Well, these songs are a bit difficult for you, sweetie. Maybe you could do something simpler on your own or with Sue."
"No! I can't play recorder on my own! You play with me."
"Okay, let's pick a song."
-a song is picked. One minute is spent on the first line. I suggest the other recorder as it has smaller holes. She goes off and gets her fingering chart. She looks at it and gets cross with it as she thinks the notes are wrong. I point out that she is looking in the wrong place and the notes are all underneath on the stave.
"But I don't know what all the notes are!"
"But you know the notes you need for this song. And on this music the note on the stave also has its letter printed on it, so you can check that way."
-She is a bit grumpy now, and has a halfhearted attempt to play a note. Her fingers are not quite right so she makes a big show of really pressing them down. Then tells me it's my fault because I'm making her use the wrong recorder. She swaps back to the original one.
-another very cross attempt to play results in blowing too hard.
"I hate recorder!" Throws it on the sofa.
"Calm down Claudia."
"How can I do it when you keep shouting at me?"
"I'm not shouting, I'm telling you to calm down and decide whether you want to play and what you want to play on. You could play the flute."
"I want to play the ukelele."
"Well, maybe Daddy could give you lessons, but not for Monday!"
-cross sulky muttering ensues. She decided she wants a snack and discovers there is none left of the yoghurts she likes.
"Daddy ate the last one!"
-Storms into our bedroom to watch TV.
"I hate being part of this family!"
"Well, close the door behind you and pretend that you aren't then."
-two minutes later the door opens. She can't get the remote to work and storms into the kitchen to find something else to eat muttering loudly about the family. I get up, go into the kitchen, close the fridge door and tell her to go to her room and stay there until she can behave and rejoin the family.
Now, this all happened in the space of ten minutes. How did it go from cuddles and happy time to screaming door slamming so quickly and over, actually, what, in the end??
By the way, she is neither 4 years old nor 14, both of which sound likely from this, she is 8. She is in her bedroom screaming. Come 14 and I am moving out!
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