It's the last day of school (finally!), and the children are utterly crushed. As evidenced by the skipping, prancing, whooping and hollering that accompanied the last trip to the bus stop. I asked them if they were sad to be having their last day of school here, and they never stopped running around in circles long enough to answer. Because today is exciting; they still have business cards to give out (Otto made them business cards with their new address info) and gifts to bestow and THINGS to DO. They haven't stopped moving long enough to be sad, yet. Come to think of it... neither have I....
We had no idea what time Otto was coming today, due to a confluence of events wherein he had to make several unplanned-for detours. (One of them was due to Audrey---the name Otto has decided to give the new GPS unit---failing to predict that there is traffic in New York City. GO FIGURE.) As of our last check-in call, we figured he wouldn't arrive until after the kids were in bed. So when he pulled up while the kids were still hanging up their towels and getting into their jammies and screeching and dancing and generally being spazzy, they didn't even notice. This gave me plenty of time to...
This would've been better yesterday, but my timing is off. Oh well. Nevertheless, some of you asked for evidence, so here it is. Today I skipped directly to number 5, myself, so I'm pretty tired now.
My children are partners in crime to the Nth degree. The flip side of the times when they pick and nudge at each other until I'm shrieking "NO! ONE! TOUCH! ANYONE! ELSE!" is that occasionally they manage to figure out that they can band together. Against the other people in the house. Oh, that's right. I'm the only other people (okay, person) in the house. And as is not at all uncommon amongst this age set, their very favorite time to go running around all giggly with each other is when I am trying, for the love of all that is holy, to usher them along in getting ready for bed. Hey, I used...
As I'd already predicted, this was pretty much the week I lost my mind. (That's about all I'm going to say about that, for now.) The natural fallout from this, however, is that I am perhaps A LITTLE STRESSED OUT, and the children react to this in different ways. Monkey reacts to it by giving me extra hugs and kisses and telling me that I am the very best Mama in the whole! wide! world! right before he runs off to do whatever he was planning to do anyway. Chickadee reacts to it in two ways: She either gets a stomach ache (or at least says she has one) or she clowns around until she gets a...
Today one of the house showings was CONVENIENTLY scheduled for right when the kids got off the bus. Honestly, I don't think this whole house-selling thing has disrupted our lives enough. I'd like people to start coming for showings in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Just to keep things hopping around here. Anyway. So, on account of the needing to clear the premises immediately ("Touch nothing! Put your backpack away and GET IN THE CAR!") and the fact that it was about 95 degrees here today (Welcome to New England; take your pick of snow or sizzle, without any of those pesky temperatures inbetween),...
Hmmmm... I think I wasn't clear about Otto's brothers in my last post. But thanks to all of your suggestions, I think we have our monikers worked out. The brother who DID SO PRACTICALLY BEG FOR A NICKNAME regardless of whatever damage control he's trying to do now is definitely going to be Nearly Nickless from now on. He is not, however, the brother who came through with the GPS. That brother shall henceforth be known as Wild Thing. Assuming that Nearly Nickless continues speaking to me after I publish this, if he wants to top Wild Thing's wedding gift, I suppose he could get us a pony. Or...
I had THINGS to do today, and STUFF to say, and I was planning to write about this copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys that I received, too. [Monkey: Does it shoot poison darts? Me: Nooooo.... Monkey: Is it filled with sharp knife blades? Me: Um, no. Monkey: Well then why is it DANGEROUS? Me: Hey, they have instructions for the best paper airplane in here--- Monkey: COOL! GIMME!] But none of that matters now. None of it. Do you know why? I will tell you why. I can sum it up in one word: Lice. Just in case you didn't catch that: LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE! Nothing shatters a day's orderly plans...
Well, it's official. Life is Back To Normal. My manicure fought the good fight, but was chipped in three places by tonight. The polish has been removed, and I consider the whole Friday to Tuesday thing a personal best. Now I can get back to things like obsessing over selling my house! Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a house in showing-ready condition when you have children? It is VERY VERY HARD. For the past couple of months I have struggled with this through rain and cold and let me tell you, I have used up a lot of duct tape on some very whiny children. But now, everything is...
