First past the post

All of us have habits – for example G likes to be the first to open things.  I’ve lost count of the times that a new jar of peanut butter or instant coffee has been opened, despite the fact that there are remnants in the old jar.  I like to be the first to get into a freshly made bed, and rather unreasonably get really irritated if I am not.  Eldest boy likes to be the first down to the telly, so that he can have supremacy over the remote control.  Middle child likes to be the first to try out new foods – hence he has added alligator, snails and kangaroo to his culinary repertoire.  And Little Man, well, he is desperate to be the inventor of the first ever indispensable gizmo.  So much so that his bedroom is a series of pulleys, levers, bells, flashing lights, a ceiling fan (which we had to pay an electrician £50 to mount), strings closing doors, and various other inventions that have either not succeeded, or not yet sold. 

Our ever obliging neighbours, who have no children, have over the years bought handy cushions, art masterpieces and homemade lemonade from our children, who all want to be the first millionaires in our family.  Time and again they have rescued homemade airplanes from their hedge, arrows fashioned out of wood from their bird table and several hundred footballs from the bottom of their garden in my kids quest for perfection.  The trampoline becomes a perfect launching pad for not only those kids that want to be the first to fly, but for those who want to be the first to kick a football out of the earths orbit… Once our neighbours woke up to see a huge flying saucer on the top of their hedge. Another day they went out into the garden to find that our kids had suspended all the kiddy garden furniture precariously in the branches of the hedge in order to make the first ever  tree office.

So really, Muttley fits in quite well.  He has been the first to help us conserve our energy bills as our previous draughty existence in leaving doors open everywhere has been curbed somewhat since he arrived.  He has been the first to chew up his bed.  None of us have ever pooed on the floor, so I guess that is a first, and he is definitely the first to the letterbox.  This is not as chaotic as it seems – I went downstairs the other day and caught the postman shouting ‘Muttley No!’ through the letterbox in the door (they seem to have a good arrangement, as Muttley is not remotely interested in envelopes, and is quite selective about the cards that he chews…).

I went shopping to London the other day and bought Muttley a little fun bandana which said My First Christmas… the days are counting down  - let’s hope it doesn’t descend into Santa’s first bitten bottom, the first one to the turkey or indeed the first time Christmas has had to be cancelled…

Have a great weekend everyone!