Welcome back to Suburbia

As of 9 pm last night, I'm home! Strange how some things about home life resume the instant you touch your driveway. The Big Guy had a tantrum within moments of coming home. It isn't that he had NO tantrums on vacation, but he definitely had a lot less. I think the great outdoors is soothing to my son. He gets really quiet when he's out in nature, be it on the back of my bike, on the raft, in the jogging stroller on a walk, or even in a pulk being pulled behind cross-country skis. I wonder if he'll be an outdoorsman when he grows up.

Another thing that resumed when we got home is the Big Guy talking to me non-stop. At the cabin, he had a whole host of other people to talk to. There were 3 tween and teen girls there who loved him, so he could talk to them whenever he wanted. They even played endless "knock knock" jokes with him, which is a sacrifice because he doesn't really get the concept. He always says "knock knock" and when you answer "who's there?" he says "apple". That's pretty much it. This morning, I heard myself saying something to him that I don't think I said in a week:
"just a minute, mommy can't listen while she's...."
I think at the cabin I also had a lot more time to talk to him. It seems to bug him when I am trying to get anything done because he can tell that I'm not giving him my undivided attention, and there was a lot less work that I had to get done while on vacation. Today's at home to do list already crossed the 15 item mark, so I stopped writing things down.

The Big Guy was sleeping in till nearly 8 am on vacation too, and this morning he was back to getting up at 6:30. That I think is interesting because his bedroom at home is darker than his room at the cabin. And he stayed up just as late last night because we didn't get home till well after his bedtime. Go figure. I can't figure him out!

I'd tell you how the girls are doing transitioning back into at-home life, but they would need to actually get up for that to happen! I'm off to tackle my list. Happy Tuesday everybody!

Inwardly raving psychotic lunatic

Today was flowing along like any other day. The Big Guy and I ran errands in the morning and came home at noon after picking up Spunky Girl at preschool. So far so good. I make the kids lunch and start cleaning. I clean and clean and clean and a hour later, you can't even tell that I've made an effort. I've got the laundry folded and put away, but the rest of the houss is still a disaster.

Hubby calls and asks me if I'd rather him come home for a quick lunch or pick something up at a fast food place on the way to the hardware store. I encouraged him to come home and I'd make him lunch. I start to work on his turkey sandwich and iced mocha. He gets home while I'm still making his lunch and sits down to play a computer games while he eats.

Meanwhile, it is time for the Big Guy's nap. The Big Guy has been resistant to nap time lately. The "scream-my-bloody-head-off" kind of resistant. Today was no different. I tried rocking and singing to him before bed, but he continued to scream and pitch a fit so I just dropped him in his crib and shut (okay, I slammed) the door. So my frustration meter has climbed a little...

Hubby has finished his sandwich and helps himself to chips. He makes a joke to Spunky Girl that his crunching will probably annoy me, but sits down to eat them anyway. I look around and the dishes are piled up to the ceiling and the Big Guy is still screaming...and now Hubby is crunching on chips. Frustration meter climbs...a lot.

I start working on the dishes, but the sound of chip crunching coming from the other room is echoing around, bouncing off the walls and driving straight into my ear drums. "Come On", I think to myself "get a grip...the guy can eat a few chips without you getting annoyed". Somehow, that fails to stop the irritating noise. Hubby invites Spunky Girl to have some chips with him. I'm sure at this point he can hear my slamming around grumpily in the kitchen and it just trying to keep her out of my way, but it doubles the chip crunching. I soooooo badly want to tell him to STOP CRUNCHING, but I can't because it simply isn't reasonable.

My mind scrambles. I realize that I shouldn't be mad at him for the chip crunching, but surely I can be mad that he's playing computer games and I never get a break from the endless workload. Ah, yes, something else to fixate on. The frustration meter rises even higher. Mentally I know I'm not mad about the computer games, I'm really mad about the chip crunching. But I can't be mad about the man coming home for lunch, saving us cash, and eating chips IN THE OTHER ROOM. What is my problem?

The Big Guy screams on in his crib. I'm gonna lose it. I bark at Spunky Girl to come help me clear the table. Apparently I know it is okay not to yell at hubby for crunching chips, but think it is okay to bark at my kids to make them stop the irritating behavior. Hmmm. She drops a plate, making a bigger mess. It is just pushing me over the edge.

A bolt of lightening to my brain. A solution appears. "Honey, could you go pick up our daughter from the busstop?". Spunky girl asks to go with him.

< quiet >

3 blessed minutes of quiet. No chip crunching. No children talking. Even the Big Guy takes a momentary break from screaming.

My breathing starts to return to normal.

I eat a piece of cake. A 450 calorie hit to my day (which will be glaring on my new calorie counting exercise), but so worth it. Sanity returns.