Its funny the things that become routine to us in a way that we know we are going to miss at a later time. For Jimmy, it was every night we used to sing him special songs before bedtime, then came Laura, Catherine, Jack and the songs got shorter and then they got older and so on. Every morning before work I take a shower and without fail, Catherine will come in and tell me she has to go pee pee. She'll sit on the other side of the shower curtain and ramble on and on and on about something of importance in her life. She was the SUPERSTAR in her class on Tuesday this week. She was so excited when she called to tell me..cute cute cute. This morning she asked me if Gary was her boyfriend. I didnt know how to answer this so I just asked her the same question. She told me to tell Gary when I saw him that she cant be his girlfriend anymore because she has lots of friends in her class. I told Gary today at work. I think he's crushed.
The next routine is hugs and kisses. Whenever I leave I yell out HUGS AND KISSES. Usually, I get Laura and Jack running at full speed and Catherine at half speed (humoring me I think). Jimmy wants to run but I think he's too cool to do that. He would still get pissed if I forget him in the ritual so I have to find him and pursue him about it. Then we get to the actual leaving of the house. At this point Jimmy runs to the window to join the others in egging me on to 'trip, trip,trip." I have to trip two or three times on my way to the car to amuse the sadistic little buggahs. For this, Jimmy even drops the wii to watch. They get a good laugh. I then wave out the window and always have Jack right up there front and center with his little hand up in the air wishing me goodbye. So many times I remember that little hand belonging to the other three and now its his turn. I always stop after backing out of the driveway and throw my fist up in the air back at them. I'm so glad they are still there waving back at me.
After work into night we make sure we all eat at the table (most nights anyhow). The kids, even Jack ask each other how their day was. Its cute actually. They are such little grownups. It goes away and the comparison to the Walton family ends there when Jack starts throwing JimBobs food everywhere.....we'll keep them though.
At night we do the tuck in. Here, its the boys versus the girls. They alternate who goes first and believe me, they remember whose turn it is. There are tears if we go out of order. The rule is, if they are in bed on time they get a book. If not, no book. We havent read too many books needless to say. Jack is the last one to bed. If we are lucky he wants to go in the back room and either watch Blues Clues or the Fire truck video. Lately, he's been passing out while watching one of them. Sometimes, we are not so lucky. He'll end up on the couch yelling for something or other or I'll put him in his bed ten to twenty times and he'll keep coming out talking about a drinkee or a belly ache that he doesnt have. The best part is after the hugs and kisses and I ask them, even jack, how much is that worth??? They say 'a billion dollars !'. awesome eh.
Every once in a while after that we'll be lucky enough to get them all in at a reasonable hour. Although not often, it usually is around 9pm when the first breath of freedom is breathed.
The next routine is hugs and kisses. Whenever I leave I yell out HUGS AND KISSES. Usually, I get Laura and Jack running at full speed and Catherine at half speed (humoring me I think). Jimmy wants to run but I think he's too cool to do that. He would still get pissed if I forget him in the ritual so I have to find him and pursue him about it. Then we get to the actual leaving of the house. At this point Jimmy runs to the window to join the others in egging me on to 'trip, trip,trip." I have to trip two or three times on my way to the car to amuse the sadistic little buggahs. For this, Jimmy even drops the wii to watch. They get a good laugh. I then wave out the window and always have Jack right up there front and center with his little hand up in the air wishing me goodbye. So many times I remember that little hand belonging to the other three and now its his turn. I always stop after backing out of the driveway and throw my fist up in the air back at them. I'm so glad they are still there waving back at me.
After work into night we make sure we all eat at the table (most nights anyhow). The kids, even Jack ask each other how their day was. Its cute actually. They are such little grownups. It goes away and the comparison to the Walton family ends there when Jack starts throwing JimBobs food everywhere.....we'll keep them though.
At night we do the tuck in. Here, its the boys versus the girls. They alternate who goes first and believe me, they remember whose turn it is. There are tears if we go out of order. The rule is, if they are in bed on time they get a book. If not, no book. We havent read too many books needless to say. Jack is the last one to bed. If we are lucky he wants to go in the back room and either watch Blues Clues or the Fire truck video. Lately, he's been passing out while watching one of them. Sometimes, we are not so lucky. He'll end up on the couch yelling for something or other or I'll put him in his bed ten to twenty times and he'll keep coming out talking about a drinkee or a belly ache that he doesnt have. The best part is after the hugs and kisses and I ask them, even jack, how much is that worth??? They say 'a billion dollars !'. awesome eh.
Every once in a while after that we'll be lucky enough to get them all in at a reasonable hour. Although not often, it usually is around 9pm when the first breath of freedom is breathed.
