Countdown to freedom .... errr.... school

Back in the spring, I was looking forward to spending the summer with my kids, Taran and Roshan. I had this glorious notion that since they have turned four and are growing up to be “big boys”, we will have a lot of fun together including the moments that I will spend with them and the moments they will play by themselves. I was obviously hopeful that the latter would constitute most of the day. So when it actually happened, I was super-joyed to observe how Taran and Roshan play so well together, whether it is their make believe trips to India/ Africa/ California where they travel with their backpacks, take out their passports at the immigration counter etc or the construction trucks they are driving while they build their city with Lego blocks. How angelic they looked when they hugged each other while “traveling” or “building” their city.
But boy! Was I wrong?! I soon realized what a profound error of judgment this was! What was I thinking? Was I out of my mind? Sure, they played together but I never imagined that these journeys to various esoteric parts of the world (their latest destination of choice include Egypt and Algeria) would involve moving their entire suite of toys and books from their toy bins and book shelves to our living room sofa, coffee table and the rest of the living room because one piece of furniture was supposed to be the x-ray machine where the checked in luggage was being screened and the other was the overhead bin to keep their hand baggage. On occasions such as this, as hard it may be, I remind myself to take a deep breath before I utter a single word ‘coz if I do not, the mild protests from my side would turn into a yelling race where I am trying to beat my own record of decibel level but since I know that the after-effects would probably be a massive headache for me and zero effect on the boys, a no-win situation, I try to calm myself down before discussing the luggage overload.
Me: But sweetheart, you are only allowed 2 pieces of checked in baggage so you may want to keep all of these things back in their spot.
Taran: It’s okay, mommy. We will pretend that the coffee table is our cargo ship and that we are shipping our luggage.
Roshan: Since we are shipping, can we also pack our clothes? Maybe we can get the big suitcases from the basement!
Me: Uffff!
Now I got to admit that my boys aren’t really devils (at least for most part); they are just normal 4 year olds who like to jump around, run about the house, giggle, scream, shout and play. Now, isn’t that what most 4 year olds do? Yet, there are moments when I find myself get flustered with the day to day happenings. For example when while playing “airport, airport” (a term they have coined), often times each suddenly develops a fancy for a particular backpack or a “piece of luggage”. From beaming smiles to pushing/pulling/screaming battles, the situation deteriorates faster than you can say “STOP”. Their choice of vocabulary at such instances hovers around:
He started it.
He hit me first.
He pushed me.
It was my turn.
He did not share it with me.
He is not my brother.
I do not love him anymore.
I will NEVER play with him. NEVER! NEVER!
Just writing this makes me sigh (and at this moment they are fast asleep, hopefully not fighting with each other in their dream), imagine my plight at the moment when my house turns into a battle zone and no amount of refereeing by grandparents will help; it has to be me - a single UN peacekeeping task force! I try the “Work it out for yourself” formula but that does not always help either. After all this, imagine my plight when I receive a letter from their school stating that the first 2 days of their school when they were supposed to be gone for “full day” aka 6.5 hrs, they will only be going for 1 hr 15 minutes ‘coz it is a “phase-in” period. ARRRGH! My countdown to freedom just got elongated :<( Now, if that makes me sound like a terrible mom, so be it. I admit I was wrong in imagining that everything will be hunky-dory, picture perfect and we will be living in utopia. As much as I love my kids, I have to periodically remind myself that moms need their occasional breaks, chatting with their girlfriends once, twice ….ok, I will admit, maybe 10 times a day, without interruptions every 30 seconds. We deserve to enjoy sipping our cup of coffee and end our day without a headache. So here it is to all those moms who beat themselves up wondering if they have been perfect role models – remember, “Moms are humans too.”
5 more days to regular school hours! Phew! I am at the home stretch! Fortunately, T & R are as eager to go to school as I am to send them so no guilt trips here :>)

Comments

Pooja said…
Hang in there, my dear. As they say, this too shall pass.

Meantime, hold on to your sanity.
Anandi said…
Been there, am there, will be there....for a long long time..
Kids and I went back to school last week and it was mighty interesting too. Aishu cried and kicked and screamed but I walked out of the room, unflustered, heaved a sigh of relief and went about my day. Sure enough, I found out later that after the intial 5-minute drama, she had a whale of a time..
Guilt trips are for the weak sweetie..We're made of much sterner stuff.
want to do lucch in new brunswick on a monday or tuesday?
Priya said…
And now.... we rejoice! cheers!