The Morning Commute

As with many people living in the suburbs of a big city, my husband commutes to work everyday. At least once a week he will complain about the traffic and let me know exactly how difficult it is to maneuver around accidents, roadwork and out-of-synch stoplights.  "You are so lucky to work from home," he will say.  "There's nothing keeping you from getting to where you need to be on time.  Nothing to stop you from getting on with your day."  Really?  

While I don't have traffic disasters to foil my morning routine, I have something just as distracting:  children.  Sure we have the normal "kid-influenced" issues such as lost backpacks and permission slips that have yet to be signed, but there are also those moments that can throw even the best of Moms for a loop.  I've been compiling a few of my morning distractions over the past couple of days and thought I would share:

1.  Dislodging pinched skin from a Nerf gun.

2.  Refereeing fight over Cubs vs. Sox when both boys put on opposing team jerseys.  

3.  Patting down daughter and confiscating cell phone, iTouch, etc. before she heads to the bus.

4.  Counting out 100 goldfish crackers for son to take to the "100 Day Celebration" at school--which he conveniently forgot to tell me about until that morning.   

5.  Chasing the dog through neighbors' yards in the rain--while wearing pajamas.

When I first started working from home I was under the impression that I could get everything together the night before, and since my kids were old enough to be somewhat self-sufficient with their morning tasks, I would find myself sitting at my desk ready to work at 8:00 AM. Nice theory, but not very practical.  Without fail, the moment I sit down at my desk in the morning I hear the beautiful bellow of a child, "Mom, I need you."  They need me to find lost shoes, to practice forgotten spelling words or to stop their sibling from chucking them with a baseball that was left rolling around on the family room floor.  They are not particularly big "needs", but they certainly interrupt the flow of the morning routine.

I guess we all have our own issues with traffic--commute or no commute.

Boys Will Be Boys

I really know very little about raising boys.  I grew up in a family of all girls and although my Dad tried very hard to expand our insights and introduce us to a more masculine world, how boys think and act is still a mystery to me.  Which is why I have no idea how to handle the situation that fell into my lap this afternoon.

My children had the day off from school (yes, a very cruel joke considering we just finished Spring Break last week) and my two boys walked to the school playground to play with some friends. As they were getting ready to leave, an older boy from the neighborhood told my littlest one to "shut up." As all big brothers do, the oldest stopped in his tracks and said, "Who told my little brother to 'shut up'?" When the boy admitted he was the one, my son clocked him.  Which of course resulted in the much older, bigger boy to jump on top of him and hit him back.   Although his pride was a little injured, physically he was fine.  

I stopped myself from blurting out, "Did you not see how big he was before you threw the first punch?" realizing this phrase alone not only appears to condone fighting but suggests that my son should always backdown from situations where he isn't quite sure he will succeed (I know, I really read way too much into things). Obviously, my son was in the wrong for throwing the first punch, but there is something admirable about his attempt to stick up for his younger brother.  I'm really not sure how to reprimand one action while applauding the other--a familiar situation for me as I try and deal with all the boys in my household (husband included).  

Here's the real kicker:  While I sit in my home office stewing over the details of this afternoon's event, my son is outside playing football with the boys--including the boy he just had a fight with on the playground.  He's over it, the boy is over it and it appears I am the only one still trying to reconcile the behavior with the motivation behind it.  I'm such a girl.