the apple doesn't fall far ...

I remember as a kid, my mom asking me to get my brothers for dinner, or whatever ...
They would be upstairs in their room and I would be downstairs.
I would go to the bottom of the stairs and yell up to them.
"Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatrickkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk."
"Connnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

Mom: "Jennifer, I could have done that. Go upstairs and get them."

Today, lunch was at the table and so was Kate.
I asked Kate to tell David that lunch was ready.
Our house is a bit different - it's a cape, so the kids bedroom are on the first floor.
So, Kate assumed she really didn't even have to move from the table.
"DAVID. LUNCH TIME."

I laughed and before I could even stop the words, they were coming out of my mouth ...
"Katelynn, I could have done that."

It's Art?

David and Kate just performed an amazing story for me.
I thought I'd share.

Let me set the scene for you ....

Picture a giant tower, containing many princesses.

David as the narrator, tells the story of Elmo, the monster who was looking for such a tower.
Elmo knocks it down, finds the tiny princesses in hiding and eats them.

(the best was Kate, jumping up and down beside me, "He missed a princess. Oh, he got it - eat her!!")

It ends with Elmo, having eaten all the princesses, dying.

I've been told that part 2 is being staged as we speak.

my favorite thing about the weekends

I always look forward to weekends.
Yes, it's nice to relax.
Yes, it's nice to not be rushing off somewhere.

What's really nice though is having an extra set of hands around the house.
Someone to help with the constant-ness of children.

We have a first floor shower.
During the week, I usually pop on a tv show in the morning for David and Kate so I can quickly shower.
As soon as I get in, it usually starts.
"Mom, I need a drink ..."
"Mom, Kate is bugging me ... "
"Mom, David stole my blanket ... "
"Mom, .... "
"Mom. Mom. Mom."

My response is usually something like, "Can I just have 5 minutes. I will be right out."

Yesterday, Sunday, a lovely weekend day ... I had just stepped in the shower when I heard banging on the door.

Kate: "Mom, I need you. MOM. MOM. I really neeeeeeeeed you."
Me: "What it is Kate?"
Kate: "Can I have some pink milk?"
(this is my favorite part coming up)
Me: "Could you maybe ask Daddy to get it for you Kate? I think he's right in the kitchen."

sigh.

So. I still get pestered. And that's okay.
But, it's nice to not feel completely responsible, if only for a couple minutes.

by default

Kate woke up screaming last night.
She had a nightmare about spiders crawling all over her, her bed.
She wouldn't go back in her room.
In my still sort of asleep stupor, I actually thought for a second that maybe there were spiders all over her bed.

shudder

I hate spiders.
Truly, seriously hate spiders.

And now Kate is having nightmares about them.

I try so hard to keep my own fears and anxieties from my children, but I just can't help them seeping out.

Of course, I put on my brave face ... but, approaching the spiders we occasionally find in the house for squishing and removal is done tentatively.

And. As freaked out as I get by spiders, its something I can solve.
I can physically remove her fear.
I can point out, when she awakes from a nightmare, that there are no spiders in her room crawling all over her.

Now, David has not inherited my fear of spiders. Or snakes (don't get me started on snakes ... ).

David has had a lot of anxiety lately - new things, old things. He seems to want to avoid places with lots of people, especially people he isn't familiar with.

Which is one of my anxieties as well. And I see the emotions in him. And remember the emotions in me. And I wonder if I encouraged the anxiety in him without realizing it.

And I don't know how to fix it.
I can't squish his fears and remove them from the house.

Post - Apocalyptic Feminism

"take away her mop and broom,
treat her to a jacuzzi room"

That was what a sign said outside a hotel on the way up to college.
My first job after college was for a consulting firm that did a lot of business in the North Country and I would pass that sign every couple months.
Oh, would it infuriate me.
My post college self could not wrap its head around the concept.
Take away her mop and broom ...
Of all the male dominated, chauvinistic society things to say.

Post College Self: "insert angry comments about how it is not the woman's place to do all the sweeping, mopping, cleaning and maybe something about how no self respecting woman would be thankful for being rewarded for cleaning up after you."

sigh.

And, now.

Gosh, doesn't that sound just lovely ...

No mop. No broom.
Maybe a good book.
A nice soak in a jacuzzi.

Post children self would appreciate the gesture.

(note post children self backtracking on above argument ... )
It's not like I enjoy cleaning.
It just has to be done.
And, as mom, and a stay-at-home one (more or less), my home has become work.
And, I really do love my job.
And, a vacation from any job (especially one with a gigantic jacuzzi) is nice.

And.

I'm just not the same person I was 10 years ago.

Consider me Jen Version 2.0 - same great Jen, but a bit more user friendly.

41

A question I ask the kids a lot lately, when they are asking and nagging and demanding and pleading and pestering and pleasing:

"How many hands does mommy have?"

The usual response in a chorus of "2" (although Kate sometimes says 10. I think she might get confused with fingers)

David responded tonight with: "41. That way you can get everything done all at once."

trying not to get carried away ...

okay, so I am just going to come out with it.
David. can. read.

(dramatic pause for the awesomeness of this revelation to sink in)

The first book that he read? "Watch me throw the ball" by Mo Willems.

Now, he couldn't read all the words, I helped with the trickier ones. (Two vowel sounds together are stumpers.)

And, now I am trying not to get carried away. I have a mental pile of books ... ones I loved as a child, ones I loved as an adult. What will he think when he reads Charlotte's Web or the Borrowers or the Big Friendly Giant? What books will he love? And then the Hobbit. And Harry Potter. Pride and Prejudice. Galapagos. the Sandman series.

so many doors opened

and, I am trying not to get carried away. not yet at least.