Enjoy Every Moment

Baby Liam, Grace, and Reagan.

Play date kids: Liam, Grace, Reagan, Noah, and Ashton.  Notice the space between Ashton and Noah.  This is the closest we could get them without starting the third World War.

I visited a friend on Sunday, and the day was intended to catch up and have the kids play at her house. My friend has a household of kids: a 4-month-old, a 3.5-year-old, and an almost 7-year-old.   The first hour of play time was pretty good, but then all bets were off.  Ashton was literally terrorizing her sweet-mannered 3.5-year-old and I was playing referee, praying that he would cease and desist.  My friend was kind and acted nonchalant about the situation, but I was mortified.  The truth of the matter is that I felt like a crazy person going from one crisis to the next with my only saving grace being Reagan's perfect behavior, since I downright neglected her for an hour.

I suppose the frustrating part is that in these moments people always tell me, "kids will be kids."  And yes, kids will be kids, but I feel like my kid is always the one being a kid and the other children are like tiny adults.  Ashton is so loving and sweet within these four walls, but when we leave, he's like a pent up Rottweiler.  "High spirited" is what I've been told to call him. I happily embrace his energy, especially since I know exactly who he inherited this from (ahem, Jimmy), but the pummeling of other children must stop.

As my friend and I were catching up, she looked at her highly intelligent, helpful, and well mannered 7-year-old and said, "It just goes so fast.  Enjoy every moment." Ha! I nodded in agreement, but couldn't help disagreeing silently.  I was smack-dab in the middle of a moment I was absolutely NOT enjoying...

Over the last couple of months, I have resolved to allow a guilt-free pass to have appropriate emotional reactions to the occasional tornado around me.  I don't yell out of line or act violently, but that does mean that I recognize my feelings of anger, frustration, and/or anxiousness.  Personally, I believe I would be insane to relish in these horrific moments.  This doesn't mean I don't love my kids at all times, but it does mean that I don't always like them. 

When I finally mustered up the courage to call it quits on the play date out of pure exhaustion and embarrassment, I loaded up the kids in the car and breathed a sigh of relief.  Sure, Ashton was screaming for juice and Reagan was complaining about being in her car seat, but at least I was the only one enduring the torture.  I am much better at this when I'm alone.  After about 2 minutes of driving both kids stopped their complaining and fell asleep.  Ahhh... Now this was a moment I happily enjoyed.