It Takes A Village

The Boy slept with me last night. He wasn't feeling well, and I usually let him sleep in my bed one night a week as a treat so last night he was with me. We had a big storm overnight and it woke me up several times. The Boy slept through it all but because he's a little sick, he snored. So between The Boy and the storm, I didn't sleep great.

You know how sometimes you just wake up in one of those moods? No particular reason, except for some reason the world is particularly annoying...today. Add to that two children who are at PRIME age for irritating the living hell out of each other and calling for me 6,000 times to be a referee to their fights...and you have a very cranky Mommy. It was just a really long morning.

So I called in my mother. Gigi came over around noon and when she showed up my plan was to leave as quickly as possible and go grocery shopping all by my quiet, little, lonesome self. But The Girl was so sweet when she said, "Mommy take me go bye bye? I wanna go bye bye...I wanna gocey shop...I wanna banana..." (she always eats a banana while we shop...it keeps her happy). So then she wanted to go...and of course he wanted to go... So my mother being the rock star she is suggested taking The Boy to her house to nap there so I could put The Girl down and get some much-needed-work done while she slept. So we ate lunch...we shopped...and they left. And The Girl fell asleep in the car on the way home. Amazingly, it all went according to plan.

I transferred her easily to her bed where she proceeded to sleep for almost 3 hours and I came in and knocked out a ton of work. In the meantime I got a call from my mother who reported that The Boy was in a tent that his Poppy built for him, with his "build a bug" toy things in his tent, laying on his pillow pets watching a Wild Kratts. It seriously doesn't get any better than that for my boy. I had to smile. He was SO stoked.

Meanwhile The Ex texted that she had made a bunch of extra chili and wanted to bring it over for dinner so she came and brought dinner, did the dishes and I was able to actually take a shower. The kids had a GREAT time playing with her and all was well. There were several super cute moments throughout the night between the two kids and how they interacted that made me smile.

I realized at some point throughout the night that while I had started the day seriously trying not to kill the two of them and trying to figure out how quickly I could get out of the house, without them, to get some piece and quiet...and ended the day feeling like one of the luckiest moms in the world being able to spend time with these two amazing kids. Parenting is not for the faint of heart; everyone knows that. And sometimes it is a good thing to realize that, even though you may be a single parent, there are days to send out the signal that you need a break. If you are able to do that, and have people respond, then it can turn a really bad day into a fabulous day. I am very lucky to have the group of people around me who allow me to do that.