Our “official” Christmas vacation ended today — Dan had to go back to work. It’s a bummer to get back to life as usual, but we’re lucky, because we really don’t have to. Benjamin doesn’t go back to school until January 9, so we still have about 10 days of not-quite-life-as-usual. I get to enjoy having both B and Liam home with me all day, and as an added bonus, I don’t have to keep an eye on the clock all morning, because I don’t have to go pick anyone up anywhere, so we can, in general, just be a little more lax for a while.
We decided that Dan should make the most of having to work today and tomorrow, so he opted to go in super-early and accrue a few extra hours of “flex time”. Which sounded like a great plan to me (in fact, I think it was my plan — it sounds like something I’d say). Which is all well and good except that I haven’t had a “normal” day (i.e., not a sick day and not a holiday) at home with both kids in quite a while. I didn’t even really think about it — I’ve been at home with my kids full time for almost 3 1/2 years, so what is there to think about?
Oh, my. I am out of practice. Liam walked into a door frame and bruised his forehead — while I was applying a cold compress (in this case, a can of refrigerated soda), Benjamin became very upset at the fact that I was “putting soda on Liam’s head” and tried, repeatedly, to get me to stop. Later, Benjamin managed to pee on the floor, despite wearing pants and a diaper at the time (I have no idea how it happened, but it did). Liam literally fell asleep in his lunch, and when I tried to clean him up (he was still asleep) he started screaming and didn’t stop for nearly 20 minutes, after which he would continue to scream, following me around with his arms stretched up to the sky, if I put him down for even a moment. After this, while changing Liam’s diaper (he was screaming, of course, because I wasn’t actually holding him) Benjamin launched himself into Liam’s room and declared, at the top of his lungs, “This is really fricking hard!” (Hmm. I wonder where he’s heard that?) I later snarled at Benjamin for doing nothing worse than hiding under a blanket in Liam’s room (he was hiding from Liam’s screaming, and while I can’t really blame him, trying to coax him out from under the blanket while still holding a screaming Liam in my other arm was just too much for my fragile nerves at this point). It was not my best day.
I managed to get both kids down for naps and got 15 minutes to put my feet up and get myself together (and eat a significant amount of chocolate) which helped a lot, but I still ended the day completely exhausted.
The day had its high points, though. Benjamin showed me, three times, how he can put his socks on all by himself, and he also repeatedly demonstrated his new broad jump technique. I got snuggle time with both my boys, Liam and I colored together with chalk and Benjamin and I played race cars. I read stories to both of them, played peek-a-boo with a very entertained Liam and listened to Benjamin explain to me how his favorite planet is Jupiter because it’s so big and full of gas, “which is funny”.
I am so happy to have both my boys home with me for the next week or so, but I had truly forgotten how hard it can be. I look forward to tomorrow a little wiser and better prepared. My kids are fun, sweet and amazing, but Benjamin is right, this can be really fricking hard.