Why? Well, let's see.
The sickness is running rampant through the children in our neighborhood. Cough, snotty noses, terrible attitudes. No one knows the source, but when we find it, we will exterminate. Or sanitize. Whichever.
So there's that, the fact that my sister and I recently combined households and threw our lives into a massive upheaval (the five kids are handling it nicely. And by "nicely," I mean that they've morphed into little tiny suburban terrorists. Only worse.), and then Girl Scout cookie pre-sales have started (I'm still looking for your order! HaHaHa!!). I've had to reschedule a meeting with the troop leader twice. Petey, the kitten, will not get off my freaking lap, like, ever. He'll see the computer and plop himself down right on my hands. Locking him in a closet doesn't work either because I'm afraid he'll poop on my stuff. Plus, my mind is sort of scrambled with everything that's going on, so spelling and thinking aren't really happening over here.
Where was I? Oh. I'm feeling taxed. (And, also realizing that the internet is a great place to complain! No one can tell me to be quiet. I just keep going!)
I spent the day chasing kids, cleaning up after them, foiling their numerous attempts to assassinate the kitten (or just pull off his legs) and looking for my sanity. One of those girls hid it, I just know it.
After the big three-state move, spending the entire summer chore-free (because Mom's an idiot and tried to spoil them only to have it backfire in epic proportions) starting a new school, getting used to mom being at home all the time (which means mom sees EVERYTHING), an Auntie who is now a kind of separate Mom-being who is pretty much exactly like mom, only faster, and now having their cousins living with them, my kids are starting to feel a little funky. I can tell because they told me so. With words.
Last night I decided to re-instate reading a chapter book together at bedtime. We used to do this before we moved and it was a great way for all of us to spend time together at the end of the day. Usually, after reading together we'd sit and talk about our day. We've had some pretty awesome topics come up (space exploration, why can't animals communicate with humans, where babies come from. <-- FYI, I did not handle that one well.).
My ten year old is reading Charlotte's Web for a book report. He kept leaving the book at school (on accident? One can only wonder) so I had to threaten his life in order to get him to bring it home. We started the book last night and took turns reading chapters. The eldest of my kids were doing fine.
It was the 5 that threw a wrench into the works.
"Momma, did you KNOW? A T-rex will bite off your head if you stick it in his mouth."
(pointing at the freckles on my face) "Momma? Why do you have those spots on everything?"
"Momma? Momma. MommaMommaMomma. Momma!!" (I stare at her. What?) "Hi." (Yes. She knows how to do that. No. She has never seen Family Guy)
She spent some time trying to do a headstand on her bed. She jumped in place on her knees. She poked herself in the eye.
And so on.
Clearly, I have some work to do with that kid.
All in all, the "quiet" time right before bed was a great way to end the hectic day we'd had. Sometimes, it's just really nice to shut everything else out and really enjoy my kids.
2 comments:
Here, I picked this up at the store. It's duct tape, zip ties, super glue, a bandana and some chloroform.
Ok, so the bandana and chloroform were purchased from a dude in a van. He seemed legit, it had curtains in the windows.
Elle, I told you to stop talking to people when they pull over to the side of the road. They're NOT looking for directions, and if they're selling you crap from their van, you're going to want to run in the OPPOSITE direction.
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