Tuesday, July 12, 2011

So How is Your Summer Off?


If one more person asks me "so, what are you doing for your summer off?" or "How are you enjoying your summer off" I will need to correct them. I am enjoying my summer with my kids and we are doing many fun things. However, do not confuse this with being "off". That sounds a little too much like a resort vacation filled with pedicures (I haven't had any), and novels by the pool (not in my world). I am lucky if I even get to switch the TV to the channel I want to watch, much less lounge around. As any stay-at-home mom will tell you to be home with your children is not akin to a resort vacation. It is work, just a different kind of work than the traditional job. There are many days where it would be easier for me to be at work. Here are some reasons why:

1. Other people's children listen better to me than my own
2. I can go to the bathroom by myself. Not often, albeit, but at work no one asks me "What are you doing?" or "Can I come in?" when I go to the restroom. If they invaded my privacy the way Lila does I could press charges. A few days ago I locked the door and the next thing I knew I saw her little fingers slipping under the door and she used her monster voice to say "My fingers see you privacy!"
3. I get dressed every day and no one wipes their cheeto hands on me.
4. I don't have to fix breakfast or lunch (Kevin does breakfast on work days since I am gone before the kids even get up)
5. I can pretend that my house is clean while I am at work. It may not be but I have a wonderfully active imagination.
6. I eat better when I am working.
7. I talk to more grown-ups plus I like the people I work with

To add balance, here are the good things about summer:
1. No papers to grade
2. Tea parties twice a day with Lila, Buzz Lightyear, Monster Baby (a Pokemon doll), and any number of naked Barbies and baby dolls
3. Swimming, sliding, Blue Bayou (the place I love to hate), the beach
4. Road trips!
5. Doing laundry before midnight
6. Icees and snowballs
7. Listening to the boys chatter with their friends as I drive them to and fro. My favorite last week was when a friend told Carson "I have always wanted to know how dogs and cats get married. They have babies but how do they get married?" to which Carson replied "They don't get married they just mate." Oh, to be so wise...
8. I love my kids and being home with them during the summer is a blessing. It's just not "off" in the standard sense of the word.

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