It’s 80 degrees lately and bright and sunny and the weather couldn’t be better…and yet I kind of feel depressed. Or maybe overwhelmed. It’s weird to feel gloomy on a sunny day.
Sometimes I just feel like I’m tired of playing, I guess. I’m tired of pretending not to know where my kids are hiding, tired of pretending that they actually tagged me, tired of spending three times as long setting up art and science projects as we spend doing them.
Today was a glorious day that I felt blah about, so I decided to write it down because that’s what I do when I feel up or down or sideways or inside out. I write, and then I feel a little more upright.
Starting around 2:00…
We do a science experiment and I get cranky with Rocco for not following directions. In the end the experiment didn’t work. I reread the instructions and discover that Rocco wasn’t the only one not following directions.
We play a game of “Hide the Chipmunk” outside and I pretend to fall asleep when Rocco hides the chipmunk. The boys think this is so funny that I am then required to do this every single time anyone hides the chipmunk, and I know then that I will be required to do this forever and always whenever we play this game.
Rocco brings a pinecone inside and asks for a bucket of water to put it in and also wants to know where he can set it for a year or two because he’s doing a science experiment.
About once an hour all day Rocco asks me for a milk cap because he thinks it will fix the inflatable pool that lost a cap, even though I keep telling him a milk cap will not work and we just need to wait for the actual cap to be delivered.
We pick Vincenzo up from the bus stop and he asks if he can do yard work to earn Minecraft time. I ask him if he’s done his homework; he hasn’t.
Rocco runs inside with a new idea to get the pool going: he’s holding his shoe up and he says he just needs this and some duct tape. I tell him no. He asks for a milk cap.
Vincenzo asks if he can do 15 minutes of piano practice so he can earn Minecraft time. I ask him if he’s done his homework; still no.
I look on the deck to see Leo rolling around in the deflated swimming pool, talking to himself. He gets up, sticks a stick into the boards of the deck, and jumps over it a few times, then goes back to roll around in the pool.
Rocco comes up with an elaborate plan involving cardboard that will get the pool working. I tell him we just need to wait 24 more hours for the cap to come.
Vincenzo finishes his snack and asks if he can practice the piano to earn Minecraft time. I ask him if he’s done his homework yet. Nope.
I cook dinner to increasingly panicked cries of, “Wipe my bum! WIPE MY BUM!”
The boys do martial arts while I work out, which makes me feel a bit less moody, which is good, as the whole ride home is dominated by a strong display of survival-of-the-fittest over a box of Nilla wafers.
Once the Nilla wafers are gone, Rocco starts talking about the milk cap again. I tell him that I just realized he is the main character of my favorite joke—the one about the duck and the grapes. You know the one, right? If not, you can read it here.
At home Rocco wants a snack but won’t tell me what he wants. He just insists that I surprise him. I bring him a tray that has sardines, a whole onion, tahini sauce, a raw potato, and a stick of butter on it. He says, “Well, I guess I have to try everything…” and he good naturedly takes a bit of everything on the tray while we laugh at the faces he makes.
We pile into my bed for a bit of some Shel Silverstein poems, and for the first time that day I feel like my emotions match the moment. Reading to my boys is my nirvana.
It’s time for the kids to go to bed but Vincenzo is scared because there’s a spider under the bed. We investigate to find out it’s just a piece of lint.
I tell Rocco and Vincenzo, “Goodnight, sleep tight…don’t let the lint bugs bite.” Rocco’s double in size as he asks, “What are lint bugs?” I close the door, leaving Vincenzo to decide which direction to go with it.
It felt like a long day…and that was just five hours of it. I know some parts are funny, many are happy, but the whole day just felt like one long sigh to me. I think I am just going to read to the boys from the moment they wake up until they go to bed tomorrow. That should be a perfect day for me.
Now, does anyone reading this happen to have an extra milk cap?
WHAT’S COOKIN’ 2NITE:
Miso salmon
Teriyaki chicken
Potato salad with olives (thanks, Tati!)
Watermelon
Triple berry crumble with vanilla ice cream
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