Wind the Bobbin Up and Block the car park up!

I took Baby A and Baby E to our weekly singing class earlier this week. We have discovered a great class which doesn't involve us signing up for a term and payment is per family not per child. This is probably the only activity which won't cost me double with two babies so it has to worth going.

I aimed to get there early so I could get a space in the car park and get the girls dressed before the singing started. However I took the advantage of the girls sleeping in the car following the school run to use the time to run around my house and get my daily tasks done. I managed to dislodge the cheerios from the high chair, remove the breadsticks from the toy box and take boy in the middle's tube of toothpaste out of the toilet which Baby E thinks is a great game!

By the time I arrived at the singing group the car park was full and the class had started. Not wishing to negotiate reversing into a busy road, I decided to park in the middle of the car park blocking in 4 cars and would deal with any car parking issues after the session.

I put the girls into the pushchair to get them from the car to the hall (I really need them to start walking now) and headed into the class. Wishing to make a subtle entry so no one would notice me I carefully opened one of the double doors and tried to reverse the stroller through the door. The class was in the full swing of "Wind the bobbin up" and I was keen to enter quietly. Having a vague memory that this door wasn't wide enough for my double pushchair I kept on pulling, willing that it would get through. I then started to fumble with the lock on the other double door but alas was unable to pull it open. I pushed the stroller back out into the corridor, put my bag over me, hauled the babies out with one in each arm and headed back into the room, with half of the 35 mum's tutting at my late arrival, and half giving me supportive, well done you made it looks!

We chose our spot in the room and the girls were very excited to join in and start clapping. I wriggled them out of their snowsuits and then remembered that they were still in pyjamas. I then spent the next 10 minutes stripping and dressing them while they learnt how to wiggle their fingers and count to 5. Being the only twins in the class I always feel bad that we can't join in with the hokey cokey as I can't possibly hold them both at once and that one of them always gets a longer turn at "Row Row Row your Boat". Thankfully half way through the session where it is deemed necessary that we all dance around to the Bob the Builder theme tune, the singing leader always looks out for me and takes one of the girls off me.

At the end of the session it dawned on me that I had to do the whole procedure in reverse plus I was still blocking in 4 other cars. We also have to pay at the end so I had to do my best to find £3 as well. Firstly I got the girls back into their snowsuits then I put them into the pushchair to get to the car. Thankfully one of the cars I had blocked in belonged to the singing leader so I only had 3 other mummies to worry about. They all rather speedily clipped their one obliging baby into the car and were ready to leave while I was struggling to get Baby A into her car seat. With 3 mums all wondering if I was going to take another 10 minutes to get out of the car park I smiled and waved apologetically at them. I then put Baby E in to her car seat, collapsed my giant double stroller, threw my bag into the car which was overflowing with vests and babygrows and got in the car. I managed to move into a free space in the car park before getting out again to rummage around for my wallet in my baby bag. I found £3 in coins and headed back inside to pay for the session. Thanking the leader profusely she promptly put £1 back into my wallet telling me that I had arrived late so I need not pay for the whole session. I really tried to insist that this was entirely unnecessary as there is a chance that I will be late most weeks. She wouldn't back down though so I thanked her profusely and we left.

It may seem like a lot of effort for a 50 minute singing class but Baby A and Baby E really love the session. From my point of view it's been nearly 5 years since I was last singing Aiken Drum and I have just learned that there seem to be 2 new verses to the Dingle Dangle Scarecrow that I am not familiar with so we will be blocking up that car park on Wednesday mornings for the foreseeable future.