(no subject)

Heck of a day yesterday. Went to another homeschooling mom's house (a hobby-farm) in the morning, picked up Chris from teaching early, Daniel skipped school, Justin skipped his nap, we filled the wading pool for Justin, Daniel went to a friend's house, and everybody was over-busy and short-tempered.

Then we took the kids to my mom's house and went to our first ballroom dance class. It actually went a lot better than I thought it would, since Chris' sense of rhythm was kind of wrecked by the accident. But somehow we were able to do all the steps our instructor taught us. I'm looking forward to the next lesson, next week.

Then we came home and put the kids to bed and began a long night of wakings. I think they both woke us up about three times each. Chris was able to go back to sleep right away, but I lay awake forever each time. I think I slept for about four hours here and there. This kind of makes me grateful that having another child is a rather slim possibility - going back to that kind of thing every night for another couple of years is not my idea of fun.

So today is grey and dreary and I've just been in holding pattern. The kids got Lilo and Stitch from my mom and watched it this morning, while I puttered and geeked.

Stitch really creeps me out. I keep wondering how come I never noticed scores of Disney animators observing Justin, as they must have done in order to make such a perfect replica of him onscreen. I wonder if they hid videocams all over our home. I wonder if they're still there.

I Really Should Drink More

Looong day with the kids. Justin was Stitch all day. Relentlessly, ruthlessly, tirelessly destructive and loud. I swear some days I think God is out to get me. I thought Daniel was exhausting, with his boundless energy and tireless curious questions. But at least he asked questions that could be answered. Justin just asks unanswerables, and when he's not doing that, he's destroying. I'm so tired of finding broken things all over our home - pens, paper, toys, furniture... I mean, before Justin I had no idea it was possible to break off the black keys on a piano. I didn't know that if you slammed the seat down hard enough, often enough, you could actually break a toilet seat.

I often wonder what life must be like for Justin. I think he must live in a world where his slightest move shatters everything, and his lightest whisper causes wincing in everybody around him. It must be a very uncomfortable world.

I really should drink more. I often think that, but since it never occurs to me to drink unless somebody offers me alcohol, I don't get far with it. But life certainly does seem somewhat more mellow after a beer or a margarita. The kid's just broken yet another toy? Ah, whatever, he's got lots of others. He's just spilled all of his dinner? Heh. That soup looked cute, flying through the air.

Why the hell don't I do this more often?