Chased by Children

Parent Teacher Conferences

Look I know that all of us have a certain amount of anxiety about our own children.  We worry that they are well adjusted enough (well, not me but some people), or if they're smart enough, or tall enough or whatever...  I too have anxiety about the princesses and their school lives.

Tonight were parent teacher conferences, and I just have one question:  why can't I have the kids that they spent 14.5 minutes describing at home with me?

LuLu's teacher was moved to tears as she described how "spiritual" LuLu is.  Wha?  The last spiritual thing I saw her do was say "Oh my God, CoCo look at this" when she found something slimy on her jacket.

CoCo's teacher waxed poetic about what an incredible "critical thinker" she happens to be.  Um...really?  Because this morning I saw her try to get a knot out of her shoelace with the wrong end of a butter knife. 

Look, it's nice to hear nice things about your children.  I just wish I got a little more empirical evidence of all these great things at home.

Who's with me? 

CoCo has gone plumb crazy...

So Coco has a new favorite word to push my buttons...

CoCo, can you help the baby get her socks on?

No.

CoCo can you brush your hair?

No.

CoCo can you get me a hair tie out of the drawer?

No.

So I too have a new favorite thing to say:

"What did you just say to me?"  accompanied by a death stare....

Suddenly the baby gets help with her socks, the hair gets brushed and the hair tie appears.  I's still the momma but she's gone plumb crazy.

Little Rays of Sunshine

Hello Interpeeps!  I am starting to feel a little bit more myself these days. "Whatever do you mean?" you ask.   Well, I kicked a cat this morning...

Seriously, the divorce is going great.  And by "great" I mean it's not going anywhere. 

We still co-habitat. 

We still don't get along. 

I still make the chili with ground turkey instead of ground beef (a crime against God and man) because I know he won't eat it otherwise.

And I could post a thousand snarky comments about why that sucks and how horrible things are for me but I won't.  Instead I will tell you about a moment. 

It wasn't such a big moment. 

I was standing in a house talking to a realtor about renting it.  I didn't end up renting it for a number of reasons (all my own) but it was at that moment that I felt myself turning a corner.

I could suddenly see the possibility of a future with my children that didn't include the Wasband.

I could glimpse the adult life for which I've longed.

A little ray of sunshine peeked through the thickness of those ominous clouds that have been following me around for a year now.  And I knew for the very first time that I was going to be okay.