The Evening

Our simple dinner left us with light kitchen clean up. Nathan and Kaeley, all in a tizzy to utilize their new Pokemon decks, rushed from the dining room table swallowing their last bite of food while challenging their beloved father to a game.

I fantasized about cleaning the study (a current dump-all and to-do list of blogs to post, emails to write, and papers to file). However, my vision of a sparkling clean study, angels singing in the background, was interrupted by Simon's chirping about Candyland. Well, how cute is that! So I was the "good mother" who said yes to a game of color hopping with a three year old.

The game went well while Simon was winning. Nathan, who could not possibly sit still to save his life (or mine as I'm sure the children's constantly fidgeting, touching, and squirming is going to take two years off my life line), sat/lay/squatted next to me. Alynna watched nearby and was quick to grab our used cards for her own pile. Simon jumped the color squares quickly as his first few cards were double-colors.

But eventually the three year old, with tousled hair and peanut-butter-smudged T-shirt, tucked his hands in his armpits and positioned his face into the most disagreeable pout you ever did see. He had become entangled in the licorice resulting in a lost turn.

That was only the beginning to his dismay as I was skilled enough in the art of Candyland to pull a "land" closer to the triumphant candy castle and king. I won the game in about ten minutes. Nathan won gracefully as he was anxious to join Brad's and Kaeley's Pokemon game.

Simon, on the other hand, must need to lose more games, because the pouting stance returned. That is, until he decided to take the board and toss it into the air in anger to losing the game! Well, I responded the way most mothers would after seeing their sorry three year old react to losing like a... well... three year old. He was sent screaming to time-out.

The Pokemon game somehow continues with Alynna perched on Brad's shoulders, Nathan squirming and exclaiming over the played cards, and Kaeley wondering why she can't figure out how to beat Daddy. Simon is now sitting on my lap as I type the first blog post I've written in a while. He mimics me under his breath, "Blah blah blah... Does it say that, Mommy? Does it? Blah blah blah... I mean, it goes like this." Ever so often he'll tempt fate by pressing a button on the keyboard. I'll reprimand him as I close the error message that popped up on the computer monitor. I hold my composure well until the Lego spaceship he has in his hands is nearly thrust up my nose as he exclaims, "See, Mommy? It's like this, Mommy. It's like thiiiiiiissss!"

Sometimes I wonder why I don't write more family blog posts. Other times I'm too busy cleaning studies, having Legos pushed up my nose, and reprimanding angry short people to really care.

Tonight was somewhere in the middle and now my ability to move forward in this game of hopping and entangling and triumph, called "life", can continue with a bit more enjoyment.