(Our in-house handy man unloading the waduzzy pile of flooring. 94 bundles or something like that. EXCITEMENT! Emerson can't wait to run his hot wheels around on it, Ida is thrilled to try a little tap dancing, Mama likes to clean it and walk on it in her boots and Daddy wants to be done installing it so he can hear mommy tell him what a spiffy handyman he is and how beautiful it looks with the sun beams shining through the window dancing off every perfectly sanded wood grain. Urban will probably bump his head too many times for a mother to be happy about, but I will never, ever curse the wooden floors. No I won't! This is a long caption and yes, I cleaned the window immediately after Urban was done smearing all over it. Smeary windows keep me awake at night.)
After school is really not the time to talk to the kids. It really isn't. I have learned from many a experiment. They have mentally checked out for the day and can tolerate no true questions, that is, questions that make them think and give an opinion. After school time is more of a time to ask yes and no questions that require little thought.
"Did you go outside for recess?"
"Have you used the potty at school yet?"
"Did you have a good day?"
"Do you have homework?"
True questions would be something like:
"Before I left after dropping you off this morning, I noticed you were talking to Mrs. W. What were you talking with her about?"
"What was Benjamin doing at the coat rack this morning?"
"What did Ms. B talk to you about regarding snack?"
BAD! This is such a bad idea for after school time. I promise these questions will bring nothing but silence or tears. These are morning time questions.
Like, last Thursday morning. The kids asked me to tell them a story to pass the time on our way to school. I thought back to when I was a kid and going to school and riding the bus. I told them that Granny put me on the bus in the morning whether I wanted to go to school or not. That I would sometimes cry the whole 40 minute bus ride there, but I would feel better once I got to school because I got all the cries out. They gasped and giggled.
Then I told them the time I was first in line for the bus one morning. It didn't happen a lot if ever because I was one of the youngest getting on the bus and somehow the older kids managed to beat or bully me out of the front. But, one morning I was first and proud of it. I was going to stand my ground no matter what....then our neighbor, Nathan, came to the line. Because we waited in his driveway across the street from our house he thought he had the final say in the bus order. Little did he know that the Carty sisters would have the final say, because just as he was pushing me out of his way, Emily socked him right in the nose and told him to take his hands off me. I got on the bus first that morning, Nathan got a bloody nose and Emily got grounded.
Double Gasp!
"These stories are scary, Mom. Tell us more like these when we are 10. They are so good but they make me a little nervous," they say while giggling. "Auntie Em punched someone in the nose? Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! We won't punch someone in the nose.....hahahah. This story is so cool!" Their emotions were all over the place after listening to the unexpected ending to that story.
"I wouldn't punch someone for picking on Ida, but I would tell them to leave my sister alone!" says Emerson.
"Yay!" replies Ida. "Me too."
"Mom," Emerson says because I have them talking now because it is so easy to do in the morning, "I think one more baby girl would be fun to have in our house. Then Ida would have a sister. Don't you want a sister, Ida? But, we would have to have one more kid. And Urban's a baby now, but we're already a mess. Actually, we are a mess with three kids. I don't think we should have anymore more. Three is enough! Sorry Ida."
At one point after having Urban, soon after having him, I felt like I wanted another baby. But it is, well, something that has never gone the way I thought it would. Emerson came right away, like first try, when we thought it would take months. Ida was a SURPRISE (born 14 months after her brother) and Urban came 2 years late and was a thought-it-would-never-happen-again surprise.
I am not pregnant.
We are not trying.
Emerson's comment just got me thinking.
It would be nice for Ida to have a sister. I don't know life without a sister. Life with two sisters is the best. I want that for Ida.
I know, we wouldn't get to choose anyway.
And, we are a mess, hahaha.