Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Spring Break Ups and Downs

The baby fussed.  I rolled over and pulled up the down comforter.  Winter's firm grip will not loosen.  I squinted to read the clock.  7:09.  And then I smiled.

Today they went back to school.

There are some moms who are wonderfully made to be home-schoolers.  I am not among those ranks.

We just finished up a ten-day stretch of Spring Break.  Spring Break is a horrible invention by the schools to reinforce the fact that, despite its name, spring has not yet arrived and also that a warm weather vacation is logistically not in the cards for us this year.

I had a good start.  I created an activity basket filled with envelopes for each day.  Some included a small present to open: a new puzzle, popcorn to go with a movie, or a paint-your-own-flower-pot kit.

The high was on Tuesday when I schlepped all four kids to Ikea ALL BY MYSELF.  We ate lunch there.  Kids eat free on Tuesdays.  Total win.  And then they played in Small Land for an hour while the babies and I carted our way through the textiles; me lusting over a multitude of organizational merchandise.  Bobby slept the whole time.  Wow, is he awesome or what?  And Katherine was only bored until I started throwing randomly spelled toys in the cart for her to inspect.

We got home at 3:00 and everyone took naps.

It went down after that.

Quite literally because that is when I fell down the stairs.  A rare moment when I did not have a baby in my arms.  Thankfully.  I was going too fast and I caught my heel on the top step, fell on my bottom and bumped my way, on my tailbone, to the bottom.  Time stopped.  It was one of those moments when you really want to bawl your eyes out.  And then you remember you're a mom and that isn't an option.  Three pairs of eyes stared up at me.

"Are you OK, Mom?" asked a very serious William.

"Ah.  Yeah." I grunted.

And then I took to texting Brian because when you fall down a flight of stairs you just have to tell somebody and then it feels better.  Kind of.

Wednesday brought a six-hour standoff with Lucy in which she refused to pick up five of her toys out on the porch.  And because she's going to be four in three weeks I had to be tough.  Not mean.  Just serious.  I didn't yell.  I didn't lose my cool.  Mostly because our porch has a lock on the door leading into the house so I could simply smile at her through the windows and sweetly say, "Your lunch is ready! Let me know when you're finished picking up your toys."  She would melt down.  Then recover.  Then start playing with something else.  Melt down.  Recover.  Play.  Over and over again until 3:30 at which point Brian told her she would need to take a nap, lunch or not.  Then she suddenly possessed the strength to pick up her toys and life resumed as normal.

Thursday I was smart enough to line up our sitter for the afternoon.  Brian and I had a lovely lunch in which I enjoyed not one but two new-to-me beers.  Delicious.  Then we had us some retail therapy at Nordstrom Rack.  Hello, new designer jeans for half price.  Hello, nude pumps I've been eyeing for some time.

Brian ended up the big winner as we continued  the charade of pretending we were just another kidless couple with money to burn.  He ended up with three dress shirts, a tie and some non-dad jeans.

After dinner that night we ran everyone around the block in the 50-degree weather.  FREEDOM!  Katherine was a hoot having never felt the feeling of pavement under her feet because the last time they were snow-free she was just a crawler.

I felt good after that day.  But only because I had five whole hours without my kids.  And then I felt a little bad about that.

The remaining days didn't go horribly.  It's just that my kids don't do well with too much idle time.  And planning activities and reminding them to be quiet AGAIN because a baby is sleeping is just so exhausting.

I know there are only two months left of school before summer vacation and you must be asking yourselves, what is poor Jenny going to do then?

I'm not sure.  But I keep telling myself it will be better because the weather will be warmer and our backyard is the size of our entire main floor.  It will be fine.  It might even be fun.  Right?

1 comment:

  1. Too funny. I hope your tailbone is okay! I busted mine sometime between carrying Maddie in my belly and delivery (albeit via c-section)..it's no fun! I love Small land at Ikea. If only spring could finally arrive! This mama is getting very impatient!!!

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