Catching Up

 Conversation with L:

Her: "Why has there never been a woman president?"

Me: [explanation about how for a long time people didn't think women were smart/emotionally stable enough to be president] [additional commentary about how stupid that is and how people thought the same about black people but look at President Obama and how things are changing]

Her, aghast at the idea that women aren't smart: "But I'm on MULTIPLICATION TABLES! That's a THIRD GRADE skill!"

 We finished out our vacation week strong, but I was tired by the end. I loved having all three girls home with me and doing a bunch of fun things, but fun is exhausting and I fell behind on some other stuff. They all went back to school today and I am happily back to my routine.

Yesterday A was wrapped in a blanket and still shivering (he is usually a furnace) and then took a midday nap (he NEVER naps). I put my excellent nursing assessment skills to good use and declared him unwell. I could barely sleep next to him last night because his fever made him even warmer than normal. Being a considerate spouse, I twice intercepted a child about to wake him. E and C both had "bad dreams."

If I didn't have A, a man who is kind when woken in the middle of the night and can easily go back to sleep, I would put a stop to this. "Oh, you had a bad dream? Well, then you woke up and saw it was a dream and everything is fine, so WHY ARE YOU WAKING ME UP?" I am NOT instinctively kind when woken up in the middle of the night and I have a difficult time getting back to sleep.

However, I consider myself second-in-charge when it comes to nighttime parenting, so I did what he usually does: I pulled the kid in bed with me, snuggled her for a few minutes, walked her back to her room and tucked her back in with hugs and kisses. I managed to hold all my snarky comments inside and was the epitome of tender maternal love.

(For the record, he is not a complete patsy. He recently told E that she can't wake him up anymore when she can't sleep. She can do the same relaxation exercises they usually do together or she can read, get a drink, listen to her mp3 player, etc. She has a long list of possible 3 am activities. She agreed that waking him up so they're BOTH not sleeping was illogical.)

I worked Fri/Sat night this past weekend, so that left Sunday free to indulge in brie and gin-and-tonics and the Oscars. There would have been Cadbury eggs, but I had eaten them all. A watched, too, but I banished him (and his germs) to the other side of the living room. Unfortunately, it was a boring telecast - nothing exciting or horrifying happened. 

Comments

[Tommie]

I love the comment that you're "NOT instinctively kind when woken up in the middle of the night."

I think the problem my daughters have is that I am kind, perhaps too kind, which is why, even though they're nine and five years old, they both still think nothing of waking me up over and over and over again in the night.

And I, patsy that I am, soothe, scratch backs, get drinks of water, walk them (yes, even the nine year old) to the bathroom, etc. until they're asleep again. It's exhausting and I'm thinking the resolution is to stop being so damned kind!