summer has swallowed me whole

Today was the day I decided that I have HAD IT with these kids. I do not want to talk about Bionicles or play with Playmobil or listen to any complaining about how HE HIT ME or HE TOOK MY ROBOT. I am tired of being asked when it will be time to go to the pool or play on the computer or watch television. I am tired of kids who ask to go outside in a thunderstorm and then refuse to leave the house when the rain stops. I am tired of listening to complaints about what we have to eat at home and complaints about leaving the house to get something good to eat.

I am tired of juggling work and play, and tired of waiting for the damn rain to STOP ALREADY so we can go to the pool.

I am TIRED.

By lunchtime today (which was late because I somehow lost track of the time, what with all the whining and raining and refusing to leave the house) I was swearing that NEXT SUMMER the kids will go to SLEEP AWAY CAMP for the ENTIRE SCHOOL VACATION. I was having a hard time finding a nice way to say simple things like "Please clean up the playroom" and "Don't hit your brother" and "Find your swimsuit and we will go to the pool." I wasn't sure how I was going to get through the afternoon, much less the rest of the summer.

And then the sun came out and I yelled until everyone was in their damn swimsuits and covered in sunscreen and we went swimming, which was fun and cool and calming. And when we came home, we played Clue for an hour and everyone was cheerful and kind and peaceful and somehow the boys remembered the rules (Clue has a LOT of rules, you all) and we laughed a lot and FINALLY figured out (with only minimal cheating) that it was Professor Plum in the hall with the candlestick.



Charlie came home from the pool the other day with a rash on his legs, where his swimsuit rubs. He's had this before (he has delicate skin, my baby boy) and after he got dressed, he was fussing about his shorts rubbing on his legs. So I told him to take his shorts off, which he thought was the Best Thing Ever and now I am fighting to get him to put some pants on, already! every day.

Today when we came home, happy and hot and damp from the pool, he asked if he could put on what he was going to sleep in. Sure, I said, why not. And he ran upstairs yelling, "HENRY! I'M GOING TO PLAY CLUE IN MY UNDERWEAR!"

I have moments where I lose sight of what really matters here, when I get so worn out by the daily grind that I forget that when you're almost five, the best part of summer is playing board games in your underwear. But then, always when I am at the end of my rope, one of my children reminds me that summer is short and that it is important to jump off the diving board and touch the bottom of the pool and eat popsicles an hour before dinner and not wear pants.

I think tomorrow I will yell less and play more and maybe eat a popsicle for lunch. But I will probably put some pants on, for the sake of the neighbors.