Don't worry - if you were super-stoked and doing cartwheels down the street when your kids went back, I am totally on board with that. Usually, I'm the mom who is secretly counting down the days until they're out of my hair for a little while. Ah, who am I kidding - I'd count down the hours if I were better at math. I don't know about you, but I always feel like kind of an asshole when I see somebody posting on Facebook or whatever about, "Oh, I don't want my kids to go back to school! I've so enjoyed having them home!" Because then I'm like, " ... Oh. *cough* Oh yeah. Me ... me too."
It's not that I don't love them, or love being with them for short periods as long as there is no whining/bickering/physical fighting involved, but there can definitely be too much of a good thing. It's just that when all my kids are together 24 hours a day for weeks at a time, they are a.) arguing with each other over eeeeeeeverything ("Colin's smiling at meeeee!") or b.) creating new ways to make messes. Either way, it's no bueno for Mom. So when I hear that another mom is dreading her kids' return to school, I can't help but wonder a.) what's wrong with me because I can't handle my own children's natural children-ness or b.) what's wrong with my kids because they clearly aren't well-behaved enough to not drive me completely insane. Which always translates into me suspecting I'm a bad mom. And me suspecting I'm a bad mom equals emergency stuffing of my face with chocolate to make myself temporarily feel better which equals looking like a sausage in a casing when I put on my jeans which equals feeling like a fat piece of crap.
Anyway, what I'm telling you in a reeeeeeeally roundabout sort of way is that under normal circumstances I can't wait for my kids to go back to school. But y'all? I was kind of dreading it this time, because that meant returning to the routine I had so happily brushed aside during the break. Back to the three daily trips to and from the school (dropping the kids off, picking Cameron up from preschool, then picking Colin up later) and the
Hmmph.
If I had three wishes, this would be one of them. Along with the ability to eat whatever without gaining weight. And okay, okay .... world peace.
It has been SO hard to get back into the swing of things. I am usually out of bed by 6:30 but without fail this entire week so far my kids have still been asleep at 7 o'clock which they NEVER do when we don't have to be anywhere (like seriously, why can't the little hoodlums do that crap on the weekends? Ugh). It is literally painful to wake sleeping children, especially when I myself would love to just stay in bed. But all this week, I've had forty-five minutes in which to get four children fed, dressed, out the door, and loaded into the car. So I've had to do it ... even though it hurts. You get a little rusty when you haven't done it in, oh, like three weeks or something.
It has been a little bit nice with just the two youngest around in the mornings again - because when one isn't old enough to talk, there's no arguing. But overall, yeah, I wasn't ready for school to start. Because there are always methods of coping with the bickering (deep breathing, earplugs, wine, locked doors, duct tape, tasers) but there's just no way around having to get my kids ready and delivered to school.
Which is why I've done it in my pajamas and glasses every day this week.
Baby steps, right?
