Too Busy to do Something Boring

After a full week gone every single solitary day, Monday had arrived to find me exhausted and a house that looked disastrous. I mean, it was a “I have no underwear, Moma” “Get your brother’s and wear it.” “He’s out too.” “Check the basket.” And then the search among the mountain of laundry in one basket leaned against the wall so the clothes reach nearly over their head begins.

I sure hope some other mom out there says this to their kids.

So, Monday arrives and I have got to clean. I can’t even open the fridge without something falling out. I brewed the coffee extra extra strong (confession, it’s always this strong. If I brewed it differently I could never drink it, and I would never be awake) and set to task.

I let S4 watch PBS, he spread out on the couch and watched to his hearts content. No one to share the blankets with, no one to get in his way, no one at all but himself, Elmo on TV and the dog.

When it was time to turn Clifford off (I just absolutely cannot let him – or any other child – watch Barney) I was in the middle of the kitchen floor scrubbing the dickens out of it.

“Moma” he declared, “this place is boring. Can we go to Owen’s house? I think he wants me to come over and play with all his Lightening McQueen toys.” I sighed deeply because it goes like this every day since the boys are back in school. It always starts with “this is boring” and then he lists all the possible people we can visit. I list all the possible things he can do to which he always says “no, that will make me boring.” But it always happens that the list of things that will “make him boring” is more boring than doing the boring things he was listing and he will head off to play. Alone.

People ask me all the time how S4 is doing with all his brother’s gone. I always say I am thankful he plays so well by himself. And it’s true, once we get past all of this, he does play well by himself.

It’s just getting past this phase.

So on this day, S4 set up blocks to make a soccer field for his little people. Until the dog knocked it over. Then he drew pictures until the whole refrigerator was covered. Then he built a fence for his horses, until the dog knocked that over to. In defense of the dog, all these block built things were right in front of the doorway, the one and only way into the room.

At this point, S4 had reached bottom. A boring house. A cleaning freak moma. An insane dog. He comes around the corner with a deck of ‘go fish’ cards, cards I don’t even know where he had them kept because he had the full deck even. “moma?” he asked pitifully. And you have to realize, of all the boys, S4 can seem the most pitiful. “Will you play cards with me?”

I had too much to do to stop. And the idea of playing “Go Fish”, well, as awful as it sounds, just did not sound like much fun. I looked at the living room floor. You literally could not find a clean spot on it. I seen the pile of laundry, that at the bottom was sure to have enough grundies to cover my boys bottoms for a few days, I looked to the kitchen where dinner still had to be made. And then I looked at my littlest boy and said “Okay, one game.”

So we kicked ourselves a little circle clear and played cards. The little stinker won, his glee was contagious. He did not ask to play another game, instead he asked if I could teach him to vacuum when he seen me working on it. Now that, you all must agree, IS boring! But he was thrilled.

With the vacuuming done and the cards all put away for some other time, S4 followed me to begin dinner. But first he gave me a big huge hug, the kind where he hangs from my neck and squeezes me so hard I see stars. “Thank you for playing cards and learning me to vacuum, Moma. I love you. I think you pretty.”

And I nearly missed all that. Because I was too busy to do something boring.