Skip to main content

Mom. MOM. Mom, mom, mom, mom MOM!!! Mom.

Right now, I mean at this exact moment, my daughter is shoveling Kix cereal into her mouth. There is juice dripping off her chin. She has one kix (or is it a kick?) lodged in her post-nap afro. She is breathing   really, really loud through her mouth because she has a stuffy nose. And as busy as she is with all that, she's also saying over and over, "I want play game on dat. I want play game on dat. Mom. Mom, mom, mom. I want play game on dat."

She is not going to get to play game on dat. Dat is my computer and dat doesn't even have any games. I have no idea what kind of fun she imagines happens on this machine, but she's wrong. I work on here, and work is the opposite of fun. And even if I had 107 kid-oriented games, I wouldn't let her play them because I'm mean. Or at least that's what I'm sure she thinks.

But here's what I think:

I think three year olds are old enough to entertain themselves for more than three seconds at a time.

I think I'm overqualified to fetch cereal and wash hands and change clothes all day long.

I think reading the same book 5 times in a row probably is important developmentally, but I'm still going to burn that thing in my fireplace after she goes to bed. My apologies, Louisville Public Library.

I think cuteness, even sweetness, isn't always a match for exhaustion.

I think. Scratch that. I know I need a break.

But where could I possibly go that would be better than this?


Please don't say Wyoming. That would be demoralizing.

Comments

  1. Kimberly...this is wonderful. Why am I just now getting it?
    Miss you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Who are you unknown? I'm 100% sure I miss you too, but who ARE you?

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the Background

Judging by my Instagram feed, K-12 kids are starting back to school in CO. After approximately 18 years at home in 2020, some are headed back into the germy trenches and others are unsuccessfully logging into 26 different apps and carefully choosing which Zoom background will go with their new sweatpants. And the question for parents across the nation is: How are you feeling? That's a lob, right? Pretty damn terrible ought to cover it. No choice was a good choice and many (most?) didn't get to choose anyway. OK, sure. There's maybe two people reading this who think COVID is a hoax. Hey, guys. I see you. I'm glad you keep reading my blog even though we're really different people. I'm also glad you'll be able to enjoy your kid-free time for the first time in 6 months. Truly. Mazel tov. For the rest of us, it's a fraught day. And when I try to think of how to answer that question— How are you feeling?— all I can think is that this feels just like getting s...

Ode to Ennui

Some years back, my friend and I discovered the word ennui. I don't mean it hadn't been in our vocabulary up that point. We were grown women. I had a child. We'd heard of it. But by some miracle, we hadn't experienced it yet. Or if we had, we didn't know it. But suddenly, there we were. Both in the throes of ennui—our only relief the bougie label we could attach to the feeling. Ennui felt grander than the doldrums or good old fashioned boredom with life. Ennui felt like something one could declare over a martini. Something one could use as a proper excuse for failing to bring a gift to a party. Or show up to the party at all. Something one could succumb  to. I'm not positive, but I think our mutual delight with the word itself pulled us out of the pit of despair. We enjoyed the idea of ennui so much that suddenly we had something to live for again. And when one has some thing worth living for, it's not such a leap to acknowledge that one has many  such thing...

What They Don't Tell You

Here's what the do tell you: every story they can remember about it going wrong. Anyone who's ever adopted a child will tell you it's like everyone has an inner Miss Rachel Lynde who just can't wait to say: "Adopting a girl ? Well I know someone who did that and it was just a disaster. She'll burn you to a crisp in your bed. That's what!" I'm sure it's the same if you have the audacity to birth twins or if, god forbid, you consider having more than the requisite 2.5 children. People have thoughts. And people love to think out loud. The truth is, you learn how to respond to what they tell you pretty quick. Or, I did. Every now and again someone will throw me a curveball; but there's not much a You must be so embarrassed to have said that  won't cover. Transparent idiocy—what they do  tell you—is easy to address. But in this time when people are learning to be more open about their privilege, their inadequacies, I'll just...