A Day In the Life: August

Charlie came in this morning, at I don't know what time, to announce, "I want to snuggle with you." I was sound asleep and dreaming and it took me a moment to realize what was going on; I staggered out of bed and carried him back to his room and fell asleep in his bed. At 5:45 I inched my way out of Charlie's twin bed (where I was smooshed up against the bedrail) and crawled back into the big bed to sleep for another forty minutes.

At 6:20 I heard Charlie and Wade talking; Wade was dressed for work and would be leaving soon, so I got up and put my glasses on and went out into the family room. Charlie was on the sofa with his blanket; I sat down with him and he covered us up and nestled his head up against me. Wade left; Henry got up; I started breakfast. Henry wanted to push the buttons on the microwave to make his pancakes, so I let him.

After breakfast, I made the beds, started laundry, and read my e-mail. When Sesame Street came on, I took the dry laundry into Charlie's room and folded while the boys watched TV. After the show was over, the boys sat down to play a game on the computer and I started getting ready to go to the pool: put on sunscreen and swimsuit, pack bag, make lunches. Then we started over, putting sunscreen and swimsuits on the boys, which takes forever and involves lots of proclamations of "That's COLD!" and "It TICKLES!" and much squirming and laughing.

As we were walking out the door, the phone rang; it was Christa, calling to say that she was meeting Tiffini at the pool and would we want to come, too? We spent three hours at the club; my kids and Christa's kids and Tiffini's kids all swam together while we sat on the side and talked about how hard it is to find a bra that fits and how we all feel like we've neglected our kids this summer. Whoever decided that stay-home moms and working moms have nothing in common has never met my friends; Christa works, while Tiffini and I stay home. Tiffini has three children, while Christa and I each have two. They have girls, and I have boys. For all of those reasons and others--it's hot here this summer, our friends all have complicated camp and school schedules, we all live in different neighborhoods--we feel like we have let the whole summer go by without really DOING anything with our kids. And now school is starting and we're all feeling guilty about letting the whole summer slip by at the exact same time that we are counting the moments until we can drop the kids and have an hour to ourselves. Or an hour with each other, without the kids.

We talked about how frustrating our kids can be, how much they drive us berserk, while the kids all played nicely and were pleasant and polite and cute. We talked about how much we miss our friend Krista. We talked about where to get a good bra.

I brought my kids home at 1:30; the boys got dressed and decided to pretend that Charlie's bed was a pirate ship while I read my mail and called the babysitter to confirm that yes, she IS coming both tomorrow AND Friday. I called Wade to make sure he was planning to come to Meet Your Teacher Day at Charlie's school on Friday. I checked my e-mail. I played pirates with the boys for a while and then we all had a snack (cereal). They went back to play pirates and I sat down, still in my swimsuit, to start this post.

At 3:30 I turned Arthur on, took a shower, and got dressed (white peasant blouse, khaki capri pants, silver thong sandals). We spent the rest of the afternoon watching PBS, because I figured that three hours in the pool was probably plenty of exercise. At 5:00 I made dinner--vegetarian chicken tenders, crusty bread, cheese sticks, strawberries, and milk for the boys; a grilled turkey sandwich for me (turkey, Muenster cheese, and pesto on crusty bread). Charlie poured an entire cup of milk down his front, which he thought was hysterical. I told him to take his clothes off and went to run a tub for him; when I came back, he was dancing around the kitchen, completely nekkid, singing a song about . . . I forget what. His back and neck were sunburnt.

Charlie played in the bath while Henry finished eating. Wade came home and changed and ate; Charlie got out of the bath and Henry got in. I slathered Charlie with aloe and lidocane, and put hydrocortizone on his legs (he had a rash, probably from the chlorinated water). He and Wade flew Lego planes around the house, making motor noises, while Henry yelled, "Stop making that noise! You are DISTURBING my PEACE!" I had to agree. Henry got out of the tub and eventually stopped jumping around long enough to get his underwear on. Wade covered him in aloe, after persuading him that no, it wouldn't hurt and yes, it would make his sunburn feel better. I went into our bathroom to put some goop in my hair.

Charlie turned a corner in our hallway too fast and smashed into the wall. He was inconsolable, sitting in Wade's lap in his underwear sobbing. I finished getting ready to leave. I helped Henry brush his teeth while Charlie cried about not wanting to brush HIS teeth and Wade tried to convince him to get out of bed and BRUSH HIS TEETH. Wade and I traded kids; Wade took Henry to read and I negotiated with Charlie about the teeth, finally carrying him into the bathroom and setting him on the stool. We brushed. He cried more. He insisted that he wanted to read with Wade and Henry, so I took him into the living room to read with them. Then he cried because the book they were reading was "not very interesting" and insisted that I read to him.

But I had to leave for the PTO meeting so Wade had to pry Charlie off my legs. I drove to the church, thinking about all the things I need to do tomorrow and the day after. Barenaked Ladies' It's All Been Done came on the radio and I drove right past the entrance and had to make TWO left turns to get back to the school. The principal started the meeting with a prayer, about change and novelty and moving forward and I got all teary, which surprised me because I can't WAIT for school to start. But for the last few days I've been worrying about how both boys will do in school--if Charlie will be overwhelmed by five full days each week, if Henry will be able to follow directions and stay with the program. I've been wondering if this is the right choice, or if I'm being selfish. I've been wondering what the hell I'm going to do with myself all day, every day, while my kids are in school. I've been worrying and making jokes and trying not to cry.

Later the principal had each of us stand up and introduce ourselves and say, "On the first day of school, I will be . . . " and I made a joke about how I would be worrying that Charlie would realize that Henry wasn't going to school for five more days. I think that's my MO, to make jokes about things that really make me want to weep. Because it's easier to make a joke than it is to explain why I'm weeping.

The meeting ran long (including a long list of all the wonderful volunteer opportunities we could sign up for on Friday, at Meet Your Teacher day). When I got home, the boys were asleep and Wade was reading a James Joyce novel. I gave him the scoop from the PTO meeting; I told him that there was a lot of praying. He said, "Get used to it." I got a glass of wine and turned on Sex and the City and sat down to finish this post.

Thanks to Sheryl for prodding us all to write about our day. You can find more participant posts at Paper Napkin.