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I just called my youngest son in France.

Me: "How are you my sweetie?"

Him: "But what's going on with you Maman???"

Me: "I'm fine of course, just wanted to hear how you're feeling..."

Him: "If everything's okay with you Maman, then everything is okay with me."

(Jos sulla on kaikki hyvin äiti niin sitten mullakin on.)

He is nine years old.

Every parent - well, every sensible human being - knows what's so deeply wrong about this conversation.

[caption id="attachment_15562" align="aligncenter" width="397"] Nothing beats exploring with my wise little man.[/caption]

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[caption id="attachment_15563" align="aligncenter" width="397"] Meat eating plant! Yeahhhhhh![/caption]

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[caption id="attachment_15564" align="aligncenter" width="397"] "Come this way Maman, I'll show you where to step..."[/caption]

My baby, grown too big too soon.

~*~

There we were in Madeira, surrounded by eight (EIGHT!) pools, spa facilities, tennis court, minigolf... And the great topic on my darlings' minds were spiders (Madeira is the lucky home of Europe's largest spiders...). So the boys had an agenda of capturing one 20 cm long monster, secretly bringing it to the hotel... In the hope it would make baby spiders for us. You can only guess how popular this idea was amongst my love and I.

[caption id="attachment_15549" align="aligncenter" width="600"] My determined baby[/caption]

Well, as this plan turned out slightly complicated to implement, they shifted to ants. More specifically, building an ant farm. My older son studied everything there is to know about ants in this world - now his plan is to capture a queen ant, bring it home and start a terrarium. He was thrilled to discover the queen ant can live up to 30 years, all along multiplying the size of the nest... What other future plans does one need...

[caption id="attachment_15550" align="aligncenter" width="397"] The no-nonsense brother[/caption]

I tried to say no in a million ways - and then some - but he is just too sweet in his arguments... Quoting books  'Owning pets grows a child a sense of responsibility, I sure could use some'... If he studies very hard all next year, could I then reward him with the farm next summer... He will pay all the costs from his weekly allowance... He has always wanted a pet, yet can't have anything cute and furry as I'm allergic - therefore he is generous in compromising with the ant farm... And the worst point of them all - I had promised he could choose something he really loves for his birthday. And now this is the one thing he really loves.

That did me in. Can you believe it, I promised.

Next summer, if he still loves the idea of ants, we will take shared custody of them with my ex husband (they will live with HIM but I have to take care of the buggers when Serge and the boys are on holidays). They take darn many holidays.

Okay I hear I am the best mother in the world. Definitely one of the most desperate.

I just wanted to hang around the eight pools... And somehow ended up in a soup. Argh.

Look what I got!!!!! Isn't she purrrrrrrrfect!

There is a very special person in this world - in MY world - who didn't want the children and I feeling cold... And arranged this when I was on a business trip in Paris. The car has absolutely everything you could dream of - even a little jar where to put perfume <3 <3 <3. Well, she is French after all <3.

You can imagine how spoiled I feel... Both feet firmly off the ground as usual.

Happy Monday my dear friends! Mine already is <3.

~*~

First time since ages, my youngest son and I got to spend a full evening together. Dinner and a movie it was, both chosen by him. Pirates of the Caribbean... Pizza dinner, eaten in bed... Many laughs, him explaining the plot and characters to me,  laying together on our small sofa - total stress release. My guys simply are the best company ever.

After, Luca asked me to stay with him until he fell asleep, to chase away any potential nightmare. My baby.

Then in the morning he sneaked silently into my bed, whispered into my ear. "Do you remember when I told you that you're the best mother in the world?". Yes of course, I answered. No mother would ever forget - he's said it only once, in those  exact words.

He hugged me tightly. "I really meant it", he whispered.

Speechlessness at it's purest.

*<3*

Huoh now I've learned what it's like to try to try work when surrounded by 5,6 million angry Frenchmen on strike... And these guys sure take their strikes seriously. Taxi drivers, who were let's say a little less than satisfied with their benefits, blocked all possible roads. Overnight, Paris became dead empty, a deserted city. Tires were burned on highways leading to airports... Flights cancelled... One temperamental bus driver got fed up with the taxi drivers blocking him and drove head on into the demonstrating crowd... Police and soldiers with machine guns everywhere.

And there I was, in my hotel, with altogether 50 kilos of cargo. Not realising a strike was imminent, I'd dragged all my newfound LadyBohemia treasures to the hotel, thinking I'd ship them to Finland the next. morning. A day fully booked with meetings, this amount of clothes shoes and bags to carry, and I was so heavily charged I couldn't even move.

It took half a day and dozens of help begging phone calls to get a lift from anyone – just anyone. At the end I just asked drivers to name their price to take me around for a few hours so I could make my purchases and ship the goods By the time I was almost in tears along came Lee, a wonderful gentleman who agreed to be my private chauffeur for the day. He carried my bags, boxes, suitcases; took me all around the city for my meetings… Took me to airport next morning … And even carried my suitcases all the way to the check-in counter. Salvation.

I made it, was able to send my goods to LadyBohemia, and was able to even get to the plane I'm sitting in when writing this. Just yesterday all this would have been impossible.

Huoh.