Ok, so while I'm waxing poetic about what I love about my kids, let me give you a brief run-down of one of the not-so-beautiful moments of motherhood.
We've been sick at our house for, like, the past 12.4 years, ok? That means Mommy & Daddy, and we haven't felt like doing much other than the basics. Now, we're starting to recover, so today we decided to have a little family time tonight.
It starts with pizza for dinner -- the nightly request of the older 2 kids (since Sam doesn't have any teeth and has yet to discover the incredible delight called Chocolate Chip Pizza).
That, of course, is a hit. They'd eat pizza every day if I'd let them and didn't insist on them trying and eating new things.
*Side note: I do think I might be up for Mom-O'-The-Year because I got every teeth-carrying member of my family to eat collard greens yesterday. Granted, I made grits-stuffed greens instead of traditional collards, but hey -- collard greens are collard greens, regardless of whether they're stewed in broth or wrapped around cheese grits.
Anyway, next on the docket: Movie Night.
Like their father, our kids are movie freaks, and we haven't watched all of the new movies they got for Christmas. K picks "Ironman."
Now, I could've told him that maybe an adult version of a comic book hero might not be the best choice for a 5-year old and a 2-year old, but my subtle attempt at bringing that up was dismissed with a "It's 'Ironman.' He'll love it!"
Yeah.
Five minutes into it, Ethan and Laney are running around, shrieking and demanding drinks and doing their best to tear up the place while K bellows at them to be quiet so he can hear the movie.
Hm.
Maybe Movie Night wasn't really about family time as much as about getting to watch a movie that I'd probably never agree to watch on free time.
Anyway, back to it.
So... Movie Night's a bust, but we decide to play CandyLand. Works for me because I still love CandyLand. K isn't quite as enthusiastic, but he gets down on the floor with us, and we complete the game in record time with optimal results (meaning Ethan won fair-and-square so we wouldn't have to witness the phenomenal meltdown that occurs when he loses).
Bedtime!
The kids, of course, start coming up with 72 fool-proof plans to NOT go to bed, but we send them upstairs, regardless. Ethan asks me to read a bedtime story, and being a bad mom, I tell him I'll read to him in the morning because my eyes are tired.
Seriously, they really are. I read an entire book -- 447 pages -- between 3 pm & 9 pm, with breaks for dinner, CandyLand, and various feedings/changings/tendings to kids. Lots of reading in a little time = tired eyes.
Anyway, after I send them upstairs, I start to feel bad because I sort of decided early on in motherhood that I want my kids to be literacy freaks... and part of that decision means not turning down an opportunity to read with them unless absolutely, positively necessary.
BUT -- my eyes are tired.
So... I decide to compromise. I go upstairs and snuggle Laney and Ethan up in Ethan's bed and announce that I am going to tell them a bedtime story.
Now, Ethan loves my stories. He used to beg me every night to tell him about how he kept the pumas from attacking our family. (He went through a crazy animal stage when he was obsessed with Diego.) Laney doesn't have much patience for any kind of story, but she loves to be a part of things... so I figured she'd bite.
I start crafting this master tale of a prince named Ethan and a princess named Laney, weaving in threads of our everyday life so that they would identify with their namesake characters. I draw them in by bringing in their superhero capes and masks, which give the prince and princess superhero powers.
I even let each choose his/her own superhero power.
Right as I'm getting ready to describe in vivid, breathtaking detail the first battle against the evil villain, Ethan pipes in.
"Um, Mommy. Can you stop there and unblock the TV? "The PowerPuff Girls" are about to come on and I don't want to miss them."
Shocked silence.
"Mommy?"
My reaction is a little less than mature. "Wait. I'm telling you this awesome story, and you want me to shut it so you can watch 'PowerPuff Girls'?!?!"
I am incredulous.
This is a dang good story I'm whipping out here!
"Yeah. You can tell me the story later, but 'PowerPuff Girls' won't be on all night."
I contemplate a biting retort like, "I'll remember that next time you want me to answer 54 questions while my favorite song is on the radio!" but I realize that 1 -- I am the Mommy, 2 -- it is in my job description to be the bigger person, and 3 -- he totally won't care and/or remember.
Sighing, I slide off the bed to enter the code to unblock the TV... just about the time that Laney pipes in:
"Mommy? Can I get off of Efan's bed now? I weally don't wike being up he-ah."
You know... I love my kids more than my own life. I really do. I never thought I could love anything -- let alone three things -- the way I love my children... but I think Sam just moved to the top of the list in my will...
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