The Trouble With Staying at Home

I can’t speak for working moms, but I think one of the toughest things about being a stay at home mom is trying to strike a balance between hanging with the kids and getting real stuff done.

Mean Mom Confession: I don’t really like playing with my kids.

Maybe that sounds terrible. Maybe it IS terrible. But it’s the truth. I enjoy hearing the funny things they say. I like seeing them interact with one another. I like hearing about Ava’s day at school. I love Davis’ recent vocabulary explosion. But I kind of want them to entertain themselves.

Now, I don’t mind an occassional game with Ava (Pinkalicious Scrabble Jr. is actually pretty fun), or some quality reading time. I sometimes can even get into a little coloring. It’s therapeutic. I particularly like to color Disney Princesses.

Clearly, I will not be homeschooling.

We’ve had an especially long week around here. Davis was assaulted by the stomach bug Saturday night. I had a trace of it on Sunday. And Monday. And Wednesday. It then claimed Ava as a victim on Monday afternoon, in the middle of Kroger. So, she stayed home from school on Tuesday, even though she was 100%  better.

That day, while Davis napped, Ava and I wrote a little book called “The Adventures of Ava and Davis.” It was just a silly rhyming story of a fictitious rainy Saturday. The whole time we were writing (I wrote, she illustrated), she kept saying how much she loved doing it, and how much fun she was having. Very sweet. It made me feel like I need to devote special time to her every day. Then again, that laundry is not self-cleaning.

So, the next day, we engaged in the aforementioned Pinkalicious Scrabble. It was fun. And then she beat me. And that was fine, except for the sing-songy, “I beat you! I’m better than you are!”

That was when we had to learn about sore winners.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I adore my kids. Obviously. But I kind of have to make an effort to enjoy actually playing with them. And I’m really trying, because I know that in a few months, Ava will be in school all day, and I won’t have these extra hours in the afternoon.

For now, I must sign off. There is laundry to be folded. And due to that nasty little stomach bug, I have not had any wine in a week. I think it’s time to remedy that.

Hello, Friday.