Tomorrow begins 2 weeks of daycamp for my kids. Day camp means they leave at 7:30 every morning and come back at 5pm every night. In essence, I get 10 whole days to get things done that I simply cannot do with them around. For them, It’s approximately 9 full hours of fun and sunshine and excitement. I have a two page list of things I need to get done this week, including painting two whole rooms. I don’t think this will be anything like the trip to Ohio, because they will return to me, full of stories about camp, every evening.
It is still hard for me to think of my kids as being old enough to go. There really is some truth to the joke “How did they get so old when I stayed the same age?” I certainly don’t feel any older than I did when they came into my life, and yet my littlest is expounding on his love of trains, and using the word “problematic” correctly, and my daughter is pining away for a chance to wear a bra! At SEVEN. She actually has two friends going through puberty right now. Admittedly, it’s early puberty, but still. A BRA? I told her very simply the other day that she should enjoy not needing one, but that went over like a lead balloon. Ah well, we will get through this together, just like everything else. Oh, and today, Roo (the youngest) said “I hate my sister. I want to trade her in for a new one.” I said “why?” trying very hard not to laugh. He said, “Oh, because she’s always telling me what to do, and I know what to do, but sometimes it’s not the way she wants it.” And Bunny chimed in, “You can’t exchange me! You can only exchange brothers and sisters until they are 2 years old, and then you’re stuck with them.” I had to pull the car over I was laughing so hard. After I remembered how to breathe, they both looked at me with the same annoyed expression. Bunny said, “This would not be happening if he was a girl.”
I’ve noticed that I am mellowing out a bit. I don’t know why this is happening, but it seems that I am much more comfortable with my marriage than I used to be. Perhaps it’s because I don’t have to change diapers anymore, and both kids know enough to knock before barging into our bedroom, and they also are happy playing with each other and letting their parents sleep in on Saturdays. Finally. I have some friends who just had their second and third babies, and they keep asking me, “Don’t you want another one?” and after the uncomfortably timed blank stare, I grin and say, “I’ll just play with YOURS.”
My best friend has called times like these next two weeks “child-free days”. I don’t think you can ever stop being a mom, though. I am surely going to miss them, even as I breeze through the grocery store in 20 minutes and listen to my favorite cd’s - yes! even the ones with the bad words! - in the car. I will smile fondly at memories of them on the playground at Chik Fil A as I meet my husband for lunch at our favorite sushi restaurant - table for two, please. But I know it’s not going to last, and I’m glad about it. Being child-free is only great if it’s temporary.
