There is a commercial for an office supply company, I don't remember which one, that shows a father gleefully dancing down the aisles of the store joyously tossing school supplies in the cart while his kids stand at the top of the aisle watching him with glum faces, all while the opening strains of the above-named Christmas carol play. I was always amused by it, but this year I found a new appreciation for the sentiment. After a summer of whining and bickering and colossal messes and someone being in timeout for hitting pretty much all the time they weren't asleep, the big kids started back to school on Tuesday.
As expected, getting our asses out of bed was a huge undertaking. We are SO NOT morning people. I like morning, and wish I was a morning person, but I just am not. I had been up til midnight the night before getting everything ready, because do you have any idea how hard it is to get the $9M in school supplies sorted and school clothes washed and kids washed and a path cleared through the family room to the front door and backpacks found while preventing the kids from burning the house down? Challenging, my friends, challenging. So I did most of it after they went to bed. I still managed to get them up and get their pictures taken before they got on the bus.
And oh, how I did the happy dance as the bus pulled away! The rest of the day was just glorious with only Sunny and Nemo. I got to play with them so much because they are so much easier to contain and I didn't need to worry about the bigs making some sort of huge mess or scheming grandiose plans of world domination starting with their mother. I got caught up on laundry (!) and was able to knock out a good portion of the planning for this vacation. I was doing great!
And then I downloaded the pictures I took in the morning. Who are these big, beautiful kids, and what the heck did they do with my babies? And I cried for about a second. Then Nemo pooped and I got over it. In the afternoon I picked them up and asked how school went. Trout said "Brilliant!" and Little Man said "Awful!" I never did figure out what was so awful, but it ought to be an interesting school year.
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Monday night I was putting Sunny to bed and she kept getting back up. I kept taking her back. Again and again, she got up, I put her back. She was crying and kicking and screaming and finally she shrieked, "Mommy! You are RUINING my LIFE!" I laughed. Her teenage years will be something.
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As a result of the lack of Extreme Chaos going on around here during the day, I've been amazingly calm and better able to deal with all the stuff the kids throw at me without yelling. I've been in the zone. Yesterday morning Little Man had an absolute meltdown over the fact that I Am Mean and wouldn't let him eat Little Debbie Zebra Cakes for breakfast. It was pitiful watching him, eyes red rimmed and shining, lower lip quivering, as he professed that his life is awful. I didn't give in, and I didn't rise to the bait, no matter how much he cried and badgered me. He wouldn't hold my hand walking to the bus stop, which was okay, and he sat in the grass near the stop, a little ways away from the rest of the kids (10 kids this year, all grades represented), lightly smacking a stick against the ground. I just left him alone and wouldn't let Trout go over there when she tried. When the bus arrived I gave him a big hug and told him to not let it ruin his day, and to go to the lunch room and eat breakfast before school, that it would help him get a better start. He came home happy, so it must have worked. And he was better about doing virtually everything I asked last night until the witching hour.
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Sunny now thinks I am a Rockstar Mom. Behold:
She had wanted a bed for her Barbies, I haven't figured out why, and the one she wanted from the store was just too expensive. I told her I'd make one for her.
1 shoebox: free with purchase of $50 shoes needed for my sister's wedding
1 pair of scissors, 1 roll of packing tape, and 2 minutes: laying around the house
1 bandana: also laying around the house
The look on Sunny's face when I presented her with her doll canopy bed: priceless
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I posted about the importance of friendships between adults and children over here at DC Metro Moms.
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Finally, if you haven't heard about Stephanie and Christian Nielson, you will. They were severely injured in a small plane crash a couple of weeks ago. You may know Stephanie from the blog Nie Nie Dialogues. They have four small kids, and their recovery and therapy will last months and cost millions of dollars. Stephanie has burns over 80% of her body. My heart just aches for them. The blogosphere is stepping up to help raise money for their recover with a series of silent auctions, hosted by Design Mom. This is an amazing undertaking - last I saw there were 165 auctions taking place for some pretty cushy items, but there is something there for everyone. Please, if you can find it in your heart and your wallet, take a few minutes to peruse the list and see if there's something you can bid on to help out.
Too funny because I did a post last year titled "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and I included a video clip of the commercial you are speaking of....it's over here and it's still hysterical.
http://momchronicles.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
Posted by: Jen | September 02, 2008 at 11:22 AM
OOPS! It's this one....sorry!
http://momchronicles.blogspot.com/2007/09/its-most-wonderful-time-of-year.html
Posted by: Jen | September 02, 2008 at 11:24 AM