Half term begins with noise levels equivalent to standing at the front of a very loud concert. At least, that's how it feels to me. Is it because my boys are boys that they feel the need to shout instead of talk, or do girls do this too? Is it just because of their personalities (can't think who they might get their loudness from) or are all boys more prone to the louder end of the volume scale? Do they have to shout as they race around they house? And do the bomb and machine gun noises (which I just cannot make my mouth do)have to be quite so realistic?
This morning, instead of wearing my ear plugs I discovered another solution to blocking out the sound. I donned my mad scientist goggles (from one of the boy's science kits, not really mine, honestly), plugged in the sander and began to sand down a table outside while they played in the garden. This was perfect. I could keep my beady eye on them but could not hear any of their noise. Even when Jonah was throwing himself around the trampoline with a face like a squawking chimpanzee because he didn't want Max to be on it at the same time, I could not hear the violent screams emitting from his mouth. It was bliss. I could feel a sense of achievement at the (yet to be completed, my hands have gone too fizzy) sanded down table, I could block out their noise and I could pretend I was being with them all at the same time.
Why are some children so quiet that they only speak when you coax it out of them, and yet my boys are so loud I worry that the neighbours might report us to environmental health for noise pollution? Have I gone wrong somewhere? Should I whisper to them so that they whisper back?
The sanding will continue throughout half term. Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll have a beautiful table and will have escaped all the petty arguments, whingy voices and the deafening yelling. Sounds like a good result to me.
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