"There is a barbie leg in my cutlery drawer"

by EMMA MULLINGS

Being a working, multitasking mum of two toddlers is quite an adventure.  Lucky for me, I love adventure.

The older I get, the more aware I have become of “treasuring the moments”. Before you know it – a season has passed, never again to be revisited.

I had one of these “treasuring the moments” experiences recently, which evolved around a brown Barbie leg in my cutlery drawer.

I have two toddlers, my daughter is 2 and my son is 1. These two are literal rays of sunshine who walk talk and… well… poop.

Each time I went to get a knife or fork amidst the chaos of meal time, normally with both toddlers at my feet being very vocal about wanting food, milk, hugs whatever! There was always this Barbie leg in drawer with the knives.  Each time I would take it out and throw it in with their toys, (it’s true, I didn’t even try to find the poor legless Barbie to reattach it to).  Yet, each time I would go to the drawer, again in the midst of chaos, the Barbie leg was back.

After the fourth time I was starting to think – is my husband doing this as a joke? Is there a hidden camera?

As I stared down at the Barbie leg, the analysing thoughts running wild (I am officially capable of thinking a million different thoughts per second, my husband will testify), I was suddenly slapped with the realisation “one day you will WISH for a Barbie leg in your cutlery drawer”.

Flash forward: I pictured my daughter as a teen going out and me wanting to do nothing more than curl up with her and watch DVDs and play hairdressers.  I pictured her telling me she was moving out and me crying each night while cuddling her stuffed toys on her old bed (why she would have stuffed toys as a young adult I have no idea).  Then her telling me she was getting married.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! I can’t share her, I just can’t.

All a little dramatic. But it made me realise how special these early years are.

So I’ve decided to leave the Barbie leg in the drawer. So that each time I open the drawer I will take a breath, appreciate the moment, hug my kids, and treasure this season with them… and resist the urge to tell my daughter she should stay and live with me until she is an old lady.

Emma Mullings is a mum of two toddlers and works as a TV Presenter and Producer.  You can find her on Twitter here.

Have you ever had a ‘Barbie leg in the cutlery drawer moment’? What funny things have your kids done that you’ll always remember? What funny things did you or your siblings do when you were kids?