Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Day in the Life Summer 2016

Since these blog posts always hit me right in the feels, and I'm always glad I've written them, you'd think I would look forward to doing it.  For some reason, no.  Not so much.  I find myself kind of dreading these days, which doesn't make tons of sense.  Perhaps it's just because it takes quite a while to document everything?  I'm not sure.  But I skipped the Spring 2016 edition.  That season was a very difficult season (literally and figuratively) of life.  Philipp died very traumatically in February, which was (and continues to be) horrible.  Then 2 weeks later, Honey died unexpectedly.  One week after we put her to sleep, Kaitlyn developed preeclampsia and was hospitalized.  Thankfully she weathered it ok, and the baby was born early yet healthy.  But we lost childcare.  Ugh.  Anyway, I just didn't feel like doing the blog in the midst of all that.  And I came dangerously close to missing the Summer edition too, as I'm one month late.  But I decided that one month late is better than never.  So today was the day.  Yes!  Accomplishment!  Without further ado ...

Date:  August 9, 2016 (Tuesday)

Key Playas:  Yours truly (just turned 37)
                      My handsome love (still a springy 36)
                      The adorbs boy (4)
                      "Lumpy" (just shy of 10)

6:30  I peel myself out of bed, finding Brian has already vacated.  I hope he got decent sleep last night, as we've not slept great in several nights.  I head downstairs and am completed shocked and stunned to find JDub is still sleeping.  Huh?  I remember one time previously that Brian and I woke before him.  He was four months old that day.  I start some coffee.

6:40  JW is awake.  He runs downstairs and gives me a hug with his bunny.  Melt my heart.  He announces "last night I ate a lot of pistachios Mama."  And also states "I had a dream about getting a new toy ... and I want to."  We are getting situated in the living room when the garbage truck rolls up to our house.  I notice it's a new truck with the dumpster on the front and excitedly try to show J.  He totally Mckayla faces it and goes back to his beloved Youtube Kids.  My heart aches for a few seconds that the simple thrill of a garbage truck is no longer important to my boy.  But I move on.  I bustle through the kitchen, prepare a lunch for Brian, talk quickly about his trial for today, ooh and ahh over his new suit, and turn on the Olympics.  There's a bio about Simone, and tons of recaps about Phelps.  I heart the Olympics.

7:20  Brian leaves for court.  Kisses goodbye all around.  J eats cereal and suddenly groans "uuggghhh!  Why is Aunt CC not here?"  I text Carolyn to share the cute sentiment.  I notice the great June gloom we're having in August and open all the windows.  Start my daily ritual of straightening -- dishes, toys, laundry, vacuum, all while JW intermittently attacks me with his Spiderman.  At one point he randomly asks me "where the heck is my silly puddy?"  Please note that said silly puddy was thrown in the garbage by moi appoximately 8 months ago, after it was mysteriously smeared through my favorite nighttime snuggly couch blanket.  I text with Larissa and organize a playdate at the library tomorrow.  As I'm finishing up the straightening, JDub runs past me and exclaims "Mama, I'm sneaky today!"  Oi.



8:30  J and Teddy play nicely downstairs while I get myself showered and the barn painted.

9:30  I prep J's lunch and have an open-faced pb&j.  JDub gets himself dressed.  Can someone tell me how and when this guy developed the independence to dress himself?  Aiesch.  I love it and hate it.  We eventually get in the car and head to Kaitlyn's.  Drop off.

10:10  I arrive at the Crossings to meet Yvonne for our long-awaited shopping date.  I have been looking forward to this for weeks and cannot wait to have my fairy godmother dress me up.  Eeee!  For several hours, we go through multiple stores, blouses flying through the air, fitting rooms fired up, and girl talk galore.  I am in awe with her natural gift at choosing clothes that somehow look amazing on me, and I just want to squeeeeze her.  It is truly a fun outing, and it feels great to treat myself to a new wardrobe.

1:30  I pick up J, who's rosy-cheeked and sweaty from a fun morning of playing.  I am late to get him today and apologize profusely.  She is gracious as always, and we chat about how fun it is to have girlfriend dates.  We head home and are pleasantly surprised to find Brian is home too.  I do a quick show & tell of all my loot, but I am completely famished and need to eat something.  He talks briefly about what a disaster his trial was, and J interrupts us about every 4 seconds.  I scarf down a Greek salad.  B is discouraged but goes out to his office to keep fighting the good fight.  JDub thinks he's Simone Biles and our couch is a vault apparatus, and I'm slightly worried about injuries.  But the emergency room is not needed today, thank God.  I get up to refill my water and have my back turned from J for exactly 23.25 seconds.  Upon my return, I find he has completely disassembled the couch and also covered Teddy in blankets.  Wow.  We spend some time cracking up at Snapchat filters.




2:15  We start "quiet" time, haha, you funny Mama.  J is set up with all his toys for quiet play while I sit down at the table for emails.  I plow through the email, organize a statistics quiz, and put in a voicemail to Timothy.  J and I basically chat through the whole time, and I somehow am still productive.

3:00  We get J into his tae kwondo uniform and head over to the dojo.  In the car, we have a little pep talk about what he'll be practicing and focusing on during today's class.  Today is the last class for his summer program, and we're not sure if/when we'll continue with tae kwondo.  (All kinds of wishy washy stuff about to be a Tiger Mom?  Or just kick back and have fun?)  I praise him profusely for how great he's been doing and what a great listener he is.  So many "I'm so proud of you" and "you are such a great team player" and "you're strong on the inside and outside" types of comments.  We get inside, and he enthusiastically runs over to the group of boys.  He's just so cute.  My heart is swelling, and I'm proud that he's doing so well with this sport.

But.  Pride cometh before the fall?  About half-way through the class, the master starts getting irritated with the boys.  Really irritated.  Like pissed.  Power struggle soon ensues.  And he basically goes on a rampage with these 4 year-old boys.  Jonathan is sent to the wall for kicking with his left leg instead of his right.  Wut?  Wait.  Head shake.  I feel my inner mama bear getting summoned.  Shake it off, Laura, shake it off.  Every kid gets in trouble from time to time.  It's good for JW to be disciplined by other adults at times.  He can learn from this.  Ok phew.  He's pulled back into the drill line.  Wait.  Huh?  I don't know what happened or didn't happen, but he's sent back to the wall to join another boy there.  Soon all four boys are sitting against the wall.  The master calls on Jonathan and barks "do you know why you're here?"  JW obediently looks up and says "Yes sir.  It's because I'm not good at this."  Oh.  My.  Gawd.  Kill me now.  That's my baby over there, getting inappropriately chastised, and he doesn't even know what for.  Wait a sec.  I don't know why he's in trouble either.  What the duck?  Keep your cool, Laura.  It's not that big of a deal.  J isn't crying, and all the boys seem somewhat aloof to this weirdness.  Wait.  The master is marching back over to the wall.  He suddenly rips off stickers from all the boys' belts.  OH HAIL NO!  No one rips my boy's stickers off his belt and gets away with it!  What in the actual duck is happening here?  I am in the twilight zone with this strange aggression.  And I'm internally wavering between rage and attempts to justify the master's behaviors.  I desperately do not want to be that parent -- the one who defends her little brat's inappropriate behaviors and raises a holy terror.  Am I just blind with love?  Did Jonathan really screw up?  Should he have been punished and gotten 3 of his 4 stickers removed for kicking with his left leg (once) instead of his right?  <internal self-inflicted slap on the face>  DUCK THAT!  This guy is crazy!  Aahhh.  The class is dismissed, and it just so happens to be the last class for J before we have to commit to a fairly pricey 6-month program.  Hmmm.  Not so sure about that now.  Jonathan fetches his shoes, and I deliberately linger around for a minute, thinking the master might come over and explain himself.  No such luck, so we leave.




I need to pick up some dry cleaning, so we walk down the strip mall.  Oh what to do, what to do?  Where's the parenting manual when you need it?  Damn.  I don't want to shove my own rage on him.  I want to know how he felt about all that.  My mind is racing while I ask what it was like.  He calmly states "I will punch Master in the face."  I cannot help myself but literally laugh out loud.  We spend time talking about what happened and how I'm confused and mad.  He is too.  We get the dry cleaning and head home.  He's getting more emotional now, which is completely understandable.  He chants "I'm never going there back again; I'm never going there back again!"  I get it.  I don't want him to either.  A) it's expensive  B)  it's a hobby.  Aren't hobbies supposed to be fun?  I get that some discipline might be necessary from time to time, especially if a kid is disruptive or not being a team player.  Ugh.  I don't want to end his tae kwondo "training" on this bad note, and I definitely don't want to be impulsive about it.  But seriously.  As we drive home, we talk about how the master must be having a bad day.  "We all have bad days, so we can understand that, right?"  "But we don't lash out at others when we're having a bad day, do we?"  I'm trying people, I'm really trying.  Empathy building at it's finest.  I have to restrain my mama bear rage through all of this.  And as we're pulling in the driveway, J calmly states again "I will punch him in the face."  Lolz.  I get it.  We won't be punching anyone in the face, but I get it.

4:15  We are home.  J wants to get Brian, so he retrieves him from the office.  We relive the whole debacle.  B and I agree quickly that we won't be signing up for the 6-month commitment.  Maybe when he's older and knows left from right?  But not now.  B heads back to the office to finish up the day.  I need some music for dinner prep, and J brilliantly chooses Piano Guys on Pandora.  I get dinner started.  Meanwhile, I hear a horrendous crash and discover J has accidentally pushed the glass table top off the base.  Thankfully he's fine, but he says "I'm so sorry I did this."  His remorse seems a bit much, and I hope the whole tae kwondo thing hasn't been internalized.  Oh, life as a parent and psychologist.  Over-analysis at its finest.   Eventually Brian comes back in, complete with a 7-foot spear.  What the?  He wrangles it around and explains how it's used in boar hunts.  "Isn't it freaking awesome?'  he proclaims.  And "I should keep it in the bedroom so I can spear a bad-guy intruder."  Oy veh.  We crack up.


5:00 We sit down for dinner.  Fish, rice, broccoli.  A pretty standard meal lately.  B and I exchange a few more comments about the master and then notice that J seems to be over it.  Ok.  Time to be more child-like and quit holding a grudge.  We chat about the day, and I try to give Teddy some attention.

5:45  After dinner, we all straighten the house a bit.  Brian does some underwear yoga, and I spare him the photo documentation, hehe.  I clean up the kitchen while JDub gets more and more rowdy, spinning through the house like a dust devil.  Brian and I fold laundry, and Jonathan is truly insane by this point.  B and I take turns wrestling him, but he is too much of a maniac for me.  When did he get so strong?  Shishkabobs!  I lay out all my new clothes and take a final count: 5 dresses, 11 blouses, 2 sweaters, 1 jeans, 2 necklaces, and 2 earrings.  I text Yvonne about how much fun I had, and I am giddy about getting to wear these awesome new pieces.

6:30  JDub is in rare form with all his hype and craziness.  Holy mother, I don't have the energy for this right now.  Time to brush teeth.  He's goofy and silly through all that.  Time for books.  Still, he's insane.  I kind of want to send him to the wall and take away stickers like the master did, ha!  But I remain patient, and we have some sweet and tender moments.


7:00  Brian is summoned for his nightly chat.  I potty Teddy and get prepped with my laptop for this blog write-up.   After the chat, we turn on the Olympics -- gymnastics.  Yes.  Brian catches up on his phone and intermittently deals with asinine clients.  I write this post.  I have a girl-crush on Simone, and all the athletes are absolutely incredible.  I text with our friends Steve and Lexi, preparing for a family date this weekend.  I cannot wait to meet their new baby, and it will be fun to look forward to dinner with them.  I really want to munch on something, but I'm dieting.  Dang it.

9:00  Yes.  This blog post is complete.  The gymnastics are wrapping up, and we're transitioning to swimming.  Brian is enthusiastic as always about reading this post, which I love.  I love him.  And Jonathan.  Welp.  Here come the feels.  I'm so glad I did this again.  As usual, I am reminded about how many details can be crammed into one day, and how life is really in the details.  I love it.  I love my little ole family, and I'm proud of my guys.  They're good human beings, and I'm lucky to be with them.  Brian and I lounge a bit more, reminisce about the day, watch some more Olympics, and then head to bed around 10.  Another day-in-the-life in the books, and another heart full of gratitude.