Tuesday thoughts . . . warning: boring parent alert

Aren’t “married with kids” arguments the lamest ones ever? Last night D. Sr. and I argued over the kids’ sleeping issues and possible solutions. I never thought, when walking down the magical wedding aisle, that I would spend time debating nap times, bedtimes, and “to wake up or not to wake up” with the significant other. As of yet, no sleep solutions have materialized that we are both happy/OK with, which means we will continue the stubborn marital arguing and détente that gets things nowhere. At least they are sleeping longer . . . it’s just the timing of everything that sucks.

Is the boy thing hardwired into the genetic code somehow? I’ve been wondering about this a lot lately, as there seems to be so much truth to some of the age old gender stereotypes and biases (and I really hate that). The other day D. Jr. was left alone in the basement den for a few minutes and when I checked on him he was hurling himself off the (fairly tall!) couch on to a pile of pillows and blankets that he craftily assembled. He informed me that he was an “animal creature jumping in Africa just like on Rescue Heroes.” OK then! D. Sr. told me that D. Jr. has previously done this (hmmm . . .), but D. Sr. doesn’t really see the harm in it (meanwhile, I see visions of D. Jr. plowing his skull into the cement floor or side table, but hey, I’m just a girl!).

I just had an extended solo play date to Calgary! I was gone for 3 days without kids and hubby and while I had an enjoyable time, I was pretty anxious about being away from the kids. I’ve been wondering, again, if this is some kind of hardwiring into moms or is it just a “primary caregiver” thing (would a stay at home dad have the same feeling about being away)? I have a few girlfriends that travel extensively, but it seems like even the seasoned travelers have some amount of guilt or anxiety over leaving their kids for a trip . . . even if it’s just worry that you’re going to miss some milestones. L.E. is on the verge of crawling and was honing her skills so much while I was away that D. Sr. was actually worried that she would learn to crawl while I was gone. He said that if she had started crawling he would have said nothing and let me make the “discovery” on my own . . . he said he was fully prepared to feign shock and surprise at her crawling and take the terrible secret of me missing a milestone to his grave. It’s for things like this that I married the guy (gush!) . . .even if he can’t agree with me on how to handle the kiddos’ sleeping situations!

oh yeah, and viva la revolucion!