Where will we be when the summer’s gone?

Have I mentioned that it has been – wait for it – unseasonably hot around here?  Honestly, it’s beautiful, and every day I have a sneaking feeling that I have been transported to a different city without my knowledge.  Today it was – wait for it – thirty degrees Celcius which is both highly abnormal and very welcome.  Sadly, the days of capri pants and tank tops are going to come to a screeching halt tomorrow given the forecast of rain and cool temperatures, but that’s okay.  I’m now ready for the kids to go back to school, which is happening Thursay.

The kids are also very ready to go back to school.  Mark has been making up his own math worksheets, and is asking me to put little checkmarks beside each correct answer.  Jake has been creating incredibly complex and difficult to follow stories, and doing home reading of his own accord.  It’s a sign. 

And the talking, my god, the talking.  It’s like someone set the children to “Loud” and “Rambling”.  Part of it is that my husband was not working last week and is now back to work and MY WORD THE CHILDREN MUST FIND AN OUTLET FOR THEIR INCESSANT CONVERSATION.  And by conversation, I mean spouting random facts about Cars 2, bodies of water, and Canadian wild animals, along with non-stop questions about those topics and also complicated explanations for “games” in which I am to pretend I am someone who has a pet river otter, or a pet wolf, and then the “wolf” and “river otter” compete for my attention.  At this point I think my brain has liquified.  But still I participate in these “games”, thinking that wine sounds nice but I can’t have any until Friday and it is only Monday, dammit.

Yesterday I was walking my dog and I ran into a woman who lives in the neighbourhood who I met once, briefly, a few years ago.  She told me that her daughter had graduated high school and her son was a year away from graduation and that she is also now, sadly, widowed, and so she was feeling extremely empty-nested.  Wow.  I was startled by all that information and also felt that maybe I was not appreciating all the time with my children over the past couple of days and that I should get home, pronto, and cherish the moments. 

But I can’t cherish the moments right now because there is SO MUCH NOISE.  Plus right now the kids are arguing about what is more destructive: bombs or fire.  They are getting very emotional and worked up about this apocalyptic argument.  “But fire would burn everything up!”  “But bombs would blow everything up!”  “Fire!”  “Bombs!”  I don’t even know the context of the disagreement, and to be honest, I prefer not to find out.

Comments

  1. Bombs are way more destructive. Firstly they can be launched at a great distance, into a variety of settings. Secondly a side effect of bombs is fire.

    …yeah. I’ve got boys. How could you tell.

  2. I’m not ready for school any more than the kids are. Unfortunately I’m not ready to start homeschooling either, so I guess we’ll all just have to suck it up. It’s been cooler than our usual thirty degrees the past couple of days, and I’ve been enjoying that. 🙂 I guess on fruit we’re sympatico, on ambient temperature not so much.

  3. I am with you. I so want to cherish the moment, but oh the questions. The NEVER ending, mind numbing, soul sucking questions. At decibels not intended for unprotected ears.
    I have totally enjoyed my summer, but I am not overly sad that school starts Tuesday.

  4. I have no idea how kids can talk so much. School will start soon for them and then you will have some quiet time.

  5. When my son turned 3 a few weeks ago, I realized that this is the last year that I will have him all to myself…and that I still have one more year to be “cool” because once they start school, parents aren’t cool anymore…sigh…they grow so fast.

  6. My lands, your house = my house. Four times a day – FOUR TIMES, at regular and predictable times – I must pretend to go to the pet shop and buy a kitten and a panda (or occasionally a yellow alligator or a turtle or a monkey). And I have to provide the entire dialog for this “game,” and my head hurts. And then once I get the pets home, it’s chatty, chatty, chatty all day.

    Still wish summer lasted forever, though. Especially since the neighbours are back in town and they can now take their cars/bombs/ninjas debates OUTSIDE.

  7. My kids are so ready to go back to school. They should have started today but, Irene had other plans and we are still with out power since the hurricane on Sunday! They have moved their start date up by an entire week until next
    tuesday. Just here living the dream, good times.

  8. The noise does make it hard to cherish sometimes.

    My boys are so freaking loud.

  9. Bombs for sure. Plus bombs often cause fire so really there’s no question. And the fact that I have an answer to this is a sign that I’m living the same non-stop questions about weird things life too.

  10. It’s nice to get little reminders like this. Still though, when you need a break, you need a break. No matter how you slice it!

    PS. I think bombs are more destructive because you can send them anywhere! 😉

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