The Battle of the Boat

I have been warned that Caitlin will hit the "terrible twos" and I'm starting to get an inkling what they mean . . .

Just before her bedtime last night, she spotted a toy boat on the side of the kitchen. I'd bought it for my friend's son's first birthday next week.

Caitlin's eyes lit up.

"Is that mine?" she asked excitedly.

"No, darling, it's a present for Isaac's birthday", I replied.

She is undaunted. "Can I have it?" she asked.

"No, darling", I reply, "It's a present for Isaac."

"Can we share it?" she asked, with the air of a lawyer about to pounce.

"No, darling", say I, "because it is for Isaac".

"That's not fair!"

"Well, firstly, life isn't fair", I say calmly, giving her the wisdom always imparted to me by my Dad, "and secondly, I think in this case it is pretty fair because Isaac gave you a watering can for your birthday and now you are giving him a boat for his".

"I WANT IT!!!!!!!" roared Caitlin, logic escaping her.

"I NEED IT!!!!" she added for good measure.

She then proceeded to weep bitterly all the way to bed. I say "weep" because it was more tragic than your usual cry. The tears rolled silently down her cheeks. She shook a little. Her lip trembled. Every now and then, she would whisper, as if the pain was almost too much to bear, "I need that boat!"

My word, it was hard. I had to bite my lip to stop myself exclaiming, "My precious girl, my darling one, have the boat! It's yours!" or "Don't cry, my sweet, we will get you a boat! Tomorrow, we will go and buy a boat just for you!".

But, I'm proud to say, I didn't. I manage to harden my heart to the pathetic, weeping mite and put her to bed, still snivelling and muttering about boats. She cried herself to sleep and I forced myself to go downstairs and leave her to it.

"She's just overtired" I told myself, "No one dies of a broken heart because they didn't get a small, plastic boat. She'll be herself again in the morning."

The next morning, Caitlin called me, as she does and I jumped out of bed (obedient Mum that I am but unlike an alarm clock, she doesn't have a snooze option).

"Good morning!" I said cheerfully.
"Good morning!" she replied, "Can I have that boat now?"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I stayed strong. It is now the Great Unspoken. But wish me luck when we give Isaac the boat next week!)

SPECIAL BLOG OFFER!

I promised I'd hide some offers in my blogs so here is the latest. I couldn't really find an offer for a cover featuring a plastic boat or a raging toddler, funnily enough, so I did some lateral thinking and here is a submarine cover instead!

It's an amazing submarine cover at that.
A classic from 2001, we officially produced it for the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. This edition has a British Forces Post Office postmark and I believe just 11 were personally signed by Victoria Cross winner, Ian Fraser VC. He won his VC at sea.

The full price is £45. We only have a few left in stock (well, he only signed 11 so you can imagine we don't have many!)

And for readers of my blog, if you move fast, you can own one for just £40.
That is a whole £5 off. But only while stocks last.
Click here to find out more & buy.

You might wonder that we have ANY left considering how good a cover it is and the answer, as usual, is that we forgot to advertise it! I think he signed much later, after the cover was issued, when we sent him a batch of other covers and slipped these 11 in to make up the numbers. We are always doing things like that and then forgetting to tell our collectors! Still, good news for you though . . .

Until next time,

Ellie x