Thursday, September 19, 2013

straws

I've hit the wall, folks.  The air is whispering fall, the news reports are predicting a heavy winter this year, I fight the urge daily to take WonderGirl out of school because I miss her so blasted much and I don't think she needs to be learning phonics for the 4th year in a row, and Monday morning the Dude crawled into my bed and quietly asked me to take Thing 3 back to the hospital because he didn't want a new baby anymore.

The problem he doesn't have a new baby anymore - that was tolerable.  But having a crawling baby who touches your stuff is another matter entirely.

Oh, how I love the Dude - but he has been working my last nerve this week.  He has had the hardest time transitioning to being a 4 year old kindergartner, sobbing at the prospect of another 3 hour class 4 days a week.  Today I was rushing around before he went to school and he was following me around asking for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but before I could do that I had to feed Thing 3 a bottle and then take a shower and change because he had a diaper malfunction and soaked us both in pee.

By the time I got up both of us cleaned up, I came downstairs expecting to see a violent tantrum from a poor, sandwich-less, misunderstood 4 year old.  But instead I saw this:


You guys - he'd decided to take care of the lunch situation - so he'd gone downstairs to the deep freezer, lugged the big paint can off of it, dragged a box of chicken nuggets out of it, closed the freezer and managed to get the paint can back on top of it, came upstairs, somehow got a plate from a high cabinet (how on earth he did that scares me!) and put a few dino nuggets on his plate and then came to ask me to please put them in the microwave for him.

I had to grab the camera.  Surprisingly, I haven't had that urge in a while.  I've been taking rotten, blurry pictures lately and it's just too depressing on top of all the other tiny, unimportant but annoying things I've got in my sights lately.  Like cleaning out my closet - and having to get rid of most of the clothes from a time gone by where I didn't have to take into account the myriad of ways a child could tug on my top or pull up my skirt and expose my underwears in public.  What I have left is just kind of depressing and a statement about my current lifestyle that I should not examine too closely.  And then I had to thin out all the stuff in the bathroom, like all the gunk from back when I had time to put on lotion or makeup or dry my hair - good heavens, I haven't been to a hair stylist in over a year.  My natural color is NOT my friend.  It's not a big deal, but when you stack a few of things things on each other, they get a little heavy.

Thankfully my medication was tweaked a few months ago so my chemicals are all cooperating with each other, so I'm less likely to tear any heads off.  Heck, the fact that the Dude is still unscathed after the last few days is a testament to modern psychiatry.

But why can't it be summer every day??



10 comments:

Jane said...

Did I ever tell you about the time my sister unbuttoned my mother's shirt dress all the way up to her waist while she was talking to a friend in the church parking lot? Kids give you great stories.
I would choose to see the good in the story - the self sufficiency of The Dude and his ability to solve a problem without a tantrum.
Also, get a lock for the deep freeze.

Jane said...

Also, come and live here! We have a lot more summer than you do.

Cath said...

It's always summer in Arizona.... Honestly, I don't think it's so bad, but I also hate the snow with the fire of--well, a Phoenix summer day.

If it makes you feel any better, I haven't enjoyed a single shower in ten days because I keep thinking I'm hearing the baby cry, even when she's asleep in someone's arms. And then I drip milk all over myself and the bathroom floor but what does it matter because I'm just going to be covered in regurgitated milk in a few minutes anyway? But man, do I love this baby anyway.

The Atomic Mom said...

Four year olds in kindergarten? That's really crazy.

Miss D said...

I think it was Natalie that used to crawl on my mom's lap and start unbuttoning her shirt so she could get a snack. At least you don't have that problem? Yeah, not gonna make you feel much better.
Also, you can send the Dude to me anytime. As long as he keeps calling me Daniel.

Miss D said...

Oooo... also there was this time when my mom left me in charge (I was 9) and we were supposed to vacuum the living room before she got back, but when I pulled out the cord from the socket, fire started spurting out. Rachel & I were screaming but Natalie (the kindergartener) went the cabinets, climbed on the counter, found the baking soda, and calmly put out the fire. Because apparently she had just learned in kindergarten that you can't use water to put out electrical fires, only baking soda. So rock on self-sufficient kindergarteners.

Anonymous said...

The day I brought baby 2 home and tucked him in his crib, child 1 decided to show what a big boy he was. While standing in the kitchen I heard 2 1/2 year old boy child coming down the hallway and turned to see him CARRYING the baby...which, to fetch him, he would have had to climb into the crib and drag out. Kid manage to live through remarkable, death-defying stunts.
Amazing. A little like his daddy's culinary independence, no?

Anonymous said...

The day I brought baby 2 home and tucked him in his crib, child 1 decided to show what a big boy he was. While standing in the kitchen I heard 2 1/2 year old boy child coming down the hallway and turned to see him CARRYING the baby...which, to fetch him, he would have had to climb into the crib and drag out. Kid manage to live through remarkable, death-defying stunts.
Amazing. A little like his daddy's culinary independence, no?

Tarzan said...

This was your best post in quite a while. Sorry about the problems, very happy that Dude's adventure turned out well. Keep your chin up.

Also I've never really known dad for his culinary independence.

Master P said...

Thanks for the love :). I think she mean the Dude's dad. More than once he's gotten up during dinner and made himself something else because he can. You are SO lucky to have Jane cooking for you.

HEAR YE. I need to document the fact that I ran 3 miles and didn't feel like death.  So just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I did...