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I made an interesting realization the other day. I no longer dread bedtime. I’ve fought the battle of bedtime nightly for nearly 13 years now. Some times it was a harder slog than others, but it was always a high-energy activity at a low-energy point in the day. But somehow in the last few months, that changed. Now bedtime begins with a snack and me reading aloud. Everyone enjoys this, including me. After snack, all the kids go lay in their beds and read while I enjoy the quiet. Again it is rewarding for everyone. There are occasional skirmishes over “you will turn out your light now” or “stop playing with toys and go to sleep” or “go get back into bed.” Naturally there are grumpy days where it doesn’t work smoothly, but for the most part bedtime is peaceful. This means I’m much more likely to start it on schedule rather than letting the kids play longer because I’m too tired to want to do bedtime. What a strange feeling it is to enjoy the bedtime routine.

Note shoved under the door of my child who locked herself in after being ordered to her room:
Gleek,
I am mad at you because every time I try to talk to you about the upset over at Bestfriend’s house, you yell at me, or run away, or throw things. I don’t want to be mad, but we have to talk about what you did and how to do it differently.
Mom

Response written in the margin of my note:
no i do’t don’t want to talk.

Gleek,
If a grown up treated people the way you treated Bestfriend’s mom and me, that grown up would be arrested and taken to jail. Hitting, screaming, and running away from people in charge are wrong.

no. I still don’t want to talk.

I’m sorry you don’t want to talk. I want to talk. I want to snuggle you in my lap and talk about what went wrong and how it could be different next time. I want to be on your side, but I can’t be when you scream and run away from me.

no!

Gleek I love you. No matter what. Even if I feel mad I still love you. Mom

yes. I know but I still don’t want to talk.

Okay. I’ll let you be alone for awhile. You don’t have to talk. If you want to come out, but not talk that’s okay too. I am going to go help Link with homework now. I love you.

Mom, I want to talk but I w want to wrigh it on PaPer as note’s.

Okay. I think you need to write a note to Bestfriend’s mom to apologize but you can’t deliver it tonight because she has guests. A note to say sorry to me would be good too.

I’m sore sorry ser so I’m so sorry!

It’s okay. I love you. (( Hug )) <-- those are hug marks.

I love you too! no-mater wat wate wut.

The notes continued for awhile after that. I pushed her homework under the door and she finished it and pushed it back. We even batted a lego man head back and forth under the door for a bit. When she finally came out, we had hugs.

Volunteering in Link and Gleek’s classrooms went well. Link’s teacher has a structured program for me to participate in. Gleek’s teacher will be using me for odd jobs. Both are fine with me. It is nice to have a chance to help other people’s children as well as my own. I really like being able to see how my kids abilities compare to the other kids in the class. Not because I need them to be best, but because it is nice to be reassured that my kids are mostly normal.

At noon there was an impromptu picnic on my next door neighbor’s front lawn. She’d been watching the kids of my other next door neighbor. The mother of the babysat kids arrived home with enough mexican take out for everyone. At first I felt like a bit of a mooch. I hadn’t been the one babysitting after all. It quickly became apparent that there really was enough food for us all. So Patch and I sat down for a picnic with our neighbors.

During the lunch I had one of those “when did I become the experienced mom” moments, as I watched my youngest play happily with my neighbors’ middle kids. I don’t feel any older or more experienced than these two other moms, but I have both a teen and a pre-teen, while their oldests are both still in younger grades.

The lunch wound down as the kids all ran off to ride bikes. It was a joy to see seven five-and-under kids all riding bikes and wagons. When one of the five year olds got tired of pulling the wagon, I got up and took a turn. For a while I even pulled the wagon while toting a baby on one hip. I think my neighborhood is one of the reasons I’m content to leave the baby and toddler years behind. There will always be little ones nearby for me to love.

Today was another sorting day. I’ve completed sorts 1-5 for the sketched editions. Sort six is the most tedious. I’ll try to get started on it tomorrow. But I can’t start working right away because I’ve volunteered to help in Link’s and Gleek’s classes for 30 minutes each. I haven’t done any volunteering at the school for two years. This year I’m not insanely busy and I’ve noticed that I’m not as well informed about my kids’ lives at school when I’m not there regularly, so back to the trenches I go. I may even talk to Patch’s teacher and see if I can volunteer in there as well, but kindergarten is usually well covered so there may not be space.

Recipe for an hour or two of fun: Ingredients: 2 boys, 1 sandbox
The boys should tuck their shirts into their pants. Then they can pretend to eat sand by shoving it down the neck hole of their shirts. Once the shirts are bulging and distended by a large load of sand, the boys should then stand up and body slam each other sumo style. Empty shirts, repeat. Post entertainment baths will be necessary.

For some reason all our Amazon consignment orders come in on Sundays. I process them on Monday, but sometimes I peek to see what Amazon wants me to send them. This time it was several copies of Hold on to Your Horses. This was a nice surprise since I’d just sent copies off to them and since this order was four times the size of any previous order. Apparently the book has been selling on Amazon. I make more money on direct sales, but people are more likely to chance upon it at Amazon. I poked around the listing and realized I’ve received a second positive review on the book. And then I realized that when you search for “Hold on to Your Horses” my book now leads the list rather than being lost 7 or 8 books down. So, Yay Amazon!

I watched Forbidden Kingdom with Howard last night. I was surprised to realize that it was funny. I was expecting an action/drama, but instead I spent the whole movie laughing and thinking “my kids would love this.” So I let them watch it today. They liked it too. It does have lots of action violence, but it is kung fu/cartoony rather than realistic.

Kiki has a report due on Monday. It is a collaborative report that she is putting together with one of her very good friends. They have decided that rather than write a report, they will shoot a video. Fortunately this is one of the options that is allowed by the teacher. They spent two afternoons writing the script, then they’ve spent all day today shooting and editing video. I’ve been aiding the project by printing out pictures of national monuments to be used in this venture. Other than that I’ve been corralling the other kids out of the way and observing myself. The script is rather clever. They’ve managed to make The girls from Tokyo Mew Mew tour 12 historic sites across America. The Mew Mew girls were represented by dolls that were hand made by Kiki’s friend. The sites included Mount St. Helens built in our sandbox, a picture of the Washington Monument surrounded by a crowd of My Little Ponies, a Mario toy going down “Niagra Falls” (our slide), meeting Edward and Bella (depicted by Barbie and Ken) from the twilight series, and a re-enactment of the pilgrim landing at Plymouth Rock done with Hamtaros (complete with theme song.) The creative energy unleashed on this project is amazing. They’ve done far more work putting together this video than they would have done just writing a report. However they’ve had far more fun as well. I’m curious to see the final product.

“Let’s go to Sam’s Club.” Howard said.
I looked up from my breakfast, startled by his statement. Go to Sam’s club together? But what about the children. I’d need a babysi…the children are all at school.
My stunned silence lasted only a moment as I wrapped my head around this new aspect of my life. I can now go to a store, on a whim, with Howard, and without first arranging babysitting.
“Sure. Let’s go.” I replied.
With a sense of playing hookie or sluffing school, Howard and I abandoned our business tasks to run off to the store together. We didn’t buy anything exciting, just groceries, but the trip was symbolic of this new phase of life that we are entering. Just being together was fun.