Sassy's Up Late Again

Rusty and I were discussing DS's bedtime troubles last night, and I mentioned that I thought the biggest problem was that Shitfoot hadn't bothered to buy two beds for them--they sleep on a queen sized air mattress in their room, and often are allowed to sleep in his bed with him. "I really admire you," he said, "because you always make sure they have what they need, no matter what it costs you." Well I never thought that was that extraordinary--that's pretty much the minimum standard of parenting, as far as I'm concerned. But I have to give myself some props anyway, because times are tough and I'm not feeling terribly extraordinary, and every little thing that can boost my ego these days should be savored... I was just about to complain to him about how crazy they had been driving me all day. I have Mommy Guilt like crazy--it's a common PMS symptom for me: I can't stand people touching me. And naturally, the kids have some sort of hormonal sensor that draws them to me even more than usual during this time. I made the mistake of letting DD stay home from camp and planned to take them to the pool. I foolishly thought they'd play by themselves and let me sit in the sun for a little while. Instead, they constantly begged me to accompany them to the deep end, goading me by splashing and climbing (dripping wet) into my lap. I finally slipped into the water at one end and told DD I was going to the other end to get DS. I hadn't taken 2 steps before she was grabbing my hand and gleefully shouting, "OK, let's go! I'll hold your hand all the way there!" I love my kids, I really do, so it was all I could do to not just yell, "LET GO!! WOULD YOU STOP TOUCHING ME??!?!?!?!?" And then when the trend continued at bedtime with DS whining that he couldn't sleep alone, I could hear the steam escaping my head through my ears. I took a deep breath and coaxed him under the blankets, and his sister offered to read from her book, "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory". I sat with him for a few minutes while she read, but she kept stopping every few words and melodramatically exclaiming how dry her mouth was and how hard it was to read aloud, so finally I agreed to read for them. I'm such a bad mom, I hadn't read bedtime stories in months! Just a few pages into it, he was fast asleep. I actually find myself looking forward to reading more tonight...