It takes a village
I am not perfect.
There. That feels better.
So now I can admit to you that very often I have difficulty handling my two children by myself in public. Not that they misbehave a lot or run completely wild. But they are quite active, and loud, and both of them seem to have developed selective hearing at an early age.
Great.
But really, because I have such little control, and because my method of handling the loss of control is totally not something I want the public seeing, we just don't go anywhere. Church. Basketball games. If forced, the grocery store. That's it.
Don't get me started on taking both kids to the grocery store. First off, the Kroger multi-kid carts with the racecar on the front are impossible to drive, and the basket holds hardly anything. Made the mistake one time, on a particularly large grocery run, of getting a normal cart so that Aden could ride and Trey walk with me.
Never. Ever. Again.
Well, at least not for several years.
The Food Lion multi-kid carts are better, the ones with the racecar up top where you push, but it makes for very close quarters. If we're in there more than ten minutes the boys wind up in a fistfight.
So anyway, you see why we steer clear of most places.
Church is fine, as it's basically a second home to all of us, and there are enough actual grandparents and honorary aunties there that someone is bound to be taking care of the boys should we lose track of them.
And the basketball games. We have our own little coach's family section, since it winds up being me and the boys, my folks, and Brandon's folks at each game. Yes, we are all there to support Brandon and his team. But it is a blessed perk that the grandparents get extra time with their boys, and at the same time, help keep me from pulling all my hair out.
We probably look like an anthill in our little section. Bags and snacks and diapers and wipes flying everywhere. Switching seats to allot equal boy time to each grandparent. Up and down the steps like nobody's business. Chaos.
See, Aden hates to sit down. So he'll butter up one of the grandparents by saying their name all sweet-like, and as soon as he makes it to their lap, grabs their finger and leads them down the bleacher steps to wander around with him. He does like watching the game and yelling at the players, but he'd much rather do so from the floor.
Trey does pretty well with watching the games. Or, rather, the clock. Between multiple potty breaks. But he has been spoiled beyond rotten, feeling utterly entitled to a Blow Pop and bag of Skittles at each game. Tsk tsk, Poppop and Granddad.
Last night was a new challenge. Because a game coincided with church night, it was just Poppop, the boys, and me. Though we might not have seen as much of the game as we usually do, things went very well. We took turns and just made it work. Made it work so well that a lady sitting in front of us commented at the end of the game how good the boys had been.
Gasp! It's a little mommy-victory!
So now Poppop and I know it can be done, a public outing with a one-to-one grownup-to-kid ratio. But I must say we'll be glad to have our village back for Friday's game.
There. That feels better.
So now I can admit to you that very often I have difficulty handling my two children by myself in public. Not that they misbehave a lot or run completely wild. But they are quite active, and loud, and both of them seem to have developed selective hearing at an early age.
Great.
But really, because I have such little control, and because my method of handling the loss of control is totally not something I want the public seeing, we just don't go anywhere. Church. Basketball games. If forced, the grocery store. That's it.
Don't get me started on taking both kids to the grocery store. First off, the Kroger multi-kid carts with the racecar on the front are impossible to drive, and the basket holds hardly anything. Made the mistake one time, on a particularly large grocery run, of getting a normal cart so that Aden could ride and Trey walk with me.
Never. Ever. Again.
Well, at least not for several years.
The Food Lion multi-kid carts are better, the ones with the racecar up top where you push, but it makes for very close quarters. If we're in there more than ten minutes the boys wind up in a fistfight.
So anyway, you see why we steer clear of most places.
Church is fine, as it's basically a second home to all of us, and there are enough actual grandparents and honorary aunties there that someone is bound to be taking care of the boys should we lose track of them.
And the basketball games. We have our own little coach's family section, since it winds up being me and the boys, my folks, and Brandon's folks at each game. Yes, we are all there to support Brandon and his team. But it is a blessed perk that the grandparents get extra time with their boys, and at the same time, help keep me from pulling all my hair out.
We probably look like an anthill in our little section. Bags and snacks and diapers and wipes flying everywhere. Switching seats to allot equal boy time to each grandparent. Up and down the steps like nobody's business. Chaos.
See, Aden hates to sit down. So he'll butter up one of the grandparents by saying their name all sweet-like, and as soon as he makes it to their lap, grabs their finger and leads them down the bleacher steps to wander around with him. He does like watching the game and yelling at the players, but he'd much rather do so from the floor.
Trey does pretty well with watching the games. Or, rather, the clock. Between multiple potty breaks. But he has been spoiled beyond rotten, feeling utterly entitled to a Blow Pop and bag of Skittles at each game. Tsk tsk, Poppop and Granddad.
Last night was a new challenge. Because a game coincided with church night, it was just Poppop, the boys, and me. Though we might not have seen as much of the game as we usually do, things went very well. We took turns and just made it work. Made it work so well that a lady sitting in front of us commented at the end of the game how good the boys had been.
Gasp! It's a little mommy-victory!
So now Poppop and I know it can be done, a public outing with a one-to-one grownup-to-kid ratio. But I must say we'll be glad to have our village back for Friday's game.
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