I Am The New Mom...

... and apparently, AJ does not like this new mom and wants the old mom back.

I heard this from him today, as I was taking them to the children's museum. How many moms are cool enough to do this for their kids on a Thursday because she knows they will be bored at home and looking for something fun to do!?!?!? And she knows she has deadlines and dirty laundry and plenty of things waiting at home that need to desperately get done.

He didn't feel like going to the museum because I was not going to play with them; I was going to read a book. I told him I enjoy reading, he enjoys playing at the museum.

He said the old mom used to play with them, and the new mom is just too busy. I try to explain to them that I am too busy trying to make a career for myself because what the hell am I going to do when they're all older and at school and doing a zillion activities and want nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, to do with me, unless they need a ride to practice or to a friend's house or to the movies? And that, yes, I like doing what I am doing, and I like the extra money so I can take them to fun places like the museum, but is that good enough for him? Noooooooo.

He said, "You enjoy doing articles, which are adult. I enjoy Game Cube, which are for kids, but the museum is for everybody!"

This is when I reminded him the museum is the children's museum.

"Well, it's a children's museum and I am not a child," was my logical response, which I know was a stupid thing to say but I thought I could blindside him there.

So, we actually had a fight over whether I would be playing with them or not, which, I just really, really felt like sitting and reading a book--don't you all sometimes just feel like having no one pull at you and demand of you and beg you and ask you and yell at you, just for like 15 minutes or so? What is wrong with a little peace and quiet when we've had to deal with nursing newborns, crying infants, teething toddlers, pissy preschoolers, and angst-ridden first graders? Come on! Don't we deserve a break? And I ain't talking McDonald's here, I'm talking some 'take-a-deep-breath-and-sit-by-yourself-and-listen-to-the-quiet-time breaks. Don't you just feel like listening to NOTHING sometimes?

Yes, I love my children, I adore my children, but they sap a lot of energy out of me, and I'm the first to admit, and in this public forum, that I am getting old and I like quiet.

It's quiet now. I think I'll go to bed and read, but I'm so tired I will just fall asleep and yes, I will be thankful I get to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again. Yes, really, really, really and truly thankful because for as much as I gripe, I love them to death and never want to miss a day when my Tookey says, "Mom, I love you sixteen!"

P.S... At the museum, I drew a really cool picture and I played with some nifty bubble things and then some air thingies where you put the ball on the top and the ball just sits there, and then we went into this room where there was a disco ball and music and then after that we saw a fake television stage where I pretended to interview the kids and I interviewed AJ and asked him why he was so mad at his mother and then he got really, really pissed off and I had to get my bouncers to pull him off me cuz he was beating me up while the audience was yelling, "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!" Oops, maybe not.