We Love Spinach!! (I know it's long...sorry!)

(I long for the day I hear that one!!)
I’m tired. It’s been a long day, and I’m wasted. I’m not actually physically tired yet, but I could go to bed and sleep like a baby (until the baby wakes up sometime in the middle of the night). My mind needs a break.
It started this morning, when I made the fateful mistake of meeting my friend at Target. I was across the street shopping when my cell phone rang, and my good friend from college lured me with her silly humor. (Really, she still prank calls me!) How can you say no to Target? I didn’t need anything, but she makes me laugh and I couldn’t say no. I had also just filled my cart at the store I was at, and was spending a little more than I anticipated… oh well. So I’m off to Target with a tired and hungry baby (the main reason I should not have gone), no diapers (2 kids still in diapers- another reason I should not have gone), nothing to buy at Target (why in the world am I going there?), and a friend whose motto is “just get it”. Seriously, whenever I pick up any random thing off the shelf and show any interest, she says that phrase to me. “Just get it.” I have a long standing joke with her about it. Anyway, for some reason when I’m around college friends, we act like we’re still in college. Silly, giddy, smart-allecky- it’s always fun. So I didn’t even think about it, I just said, “I’ll call you when I get there,” and quickly made my purchases at the other store and crossed the street to Target. We wandered for a while through the aisles, trying to entertain the kids and keep the baby quiet. That’s when the reality that we’re not in college anymore sets in. One screaming baby (she wasn’t screaming the whole time), two toddlers that have a love/hate relationship, and two kids that we lose track of when we turn a corner in the store. Despite her motto, I only bought 3 things- shower curtain rings, baby spoons, and something else I can’t remember. Anyway, that’s not when the day went south.
After greeting 27 people we know there, we parted ways and left Target at just the wrong time- it was 12:40 and the little ones needed naps, but if they took naps, they would certainly not be awake when it was time to pick up the big ones from school at 2:30. Well, my dilemma was answered when my two year old fell asleep in the car. She would get a short nap and then would go to bed early. No such luck. She slept in the car, I carefully carried her upstairs, but less than 5 minutes later she reappeared announcing “poopies” in her diaper, which means that she will not sleep any more. So basically no nap for her, which means rough afternoon for all. Two year olds really need naps. When they don’t get naps, lots of noises come out of them that you would rather not hear. High pitched screeching when someone takes something from them and they are gripping it with all their might, screaming “MINE” when anyone touches something she wants to play with (she didn’t even necessarily have it first and doesn’t necessarily own it, and doesn’t even want to play with it, just wants to make sure no one else plays with it), “NONONONONONONO” is another noise that is unpleasant to hear in such voluminous tones.
Anyway, that’s not what made the day rough either. What made it difficult started when the big kids came home from school. First thing that happened was that I thought I caught one in a lie. After working through that, talking with her and expending emotional energy, I believed that she was telling the truth. That took some energy out of me.
Then began the search for the missing library book. My first grader Shea has a hard time keeping track of things, as we discovered tonight when she was looking for her homework and had given up the search. In my frustration, I agreed to look for a minute, and found her homework in such an obscure place. It was in her homework folder in the homework basket!! Imagine that… I probably put it there last night after she did her homework. So back to the library book. She is so distressed about not being able to find the library book, that I call off the search to give her and me a break from all of the emotional trauma that it is causing. I’m fighting to find a way to talk her into having some perspective on the matter. There goes more of my emotional energy.
On cue, the phone rings. It was the phone call from my husband. “I’m going to be a little late- maybe 15 minutes.” “No problem,” I reply. I can handle that, even though I am actually on time having dinner ready.
I head out into the backyard to check on the girls, who had gone next door to play in Emma’s backyard. “Play outside, and DO NOT go in their house.” We have a few standard rules when it comes to going into anyone’s house- and I reminded them of these rules right before I gave them the okay to play in their yard. “Shea!! McKinley!!” I shout, not hearing them in the backyard. “What do you need, Julie?” comes the response from Mitch, Emma’s dad, who apparently is in the backyard by himself. My blood is beginning to boil. “Can you please send the girls back over now”…(So I can bring them in the house and tan their hides!!)
Dinner was lots of fun. My husband came home a little later than 15 minutes late (like 40), so dinner was cold and not to the kids standards. I had really worked hard trying to make it palatable for them, but creamed spinach is not on their list, no matter how much butter and cheese you add. They were all gagging, and spent most of the time at the table whining and asking if they could not eat the spinach. The two year old was not happy when I shoved a bite in her mouth, and was waving both of her hands in the air like a bird with dwarfed wings while she hung her mouth open squealing. Not happy squealing, but the kind that goes with flapping arms and spinach drool. My son thought that if he took a huge bite and ate it with a big ice cube, the spinach would melt in his mouth (he said that). The spinach did nothing like that, and I know that for sure, because in one split second my son stood up, turned his head away from the table, and launched all of it onto the floor, including the two bites that he had already swallowed. After he cleaned up his mess, it was off to bed for all. I turned into the wicked step-mother and sent all of the children off to bed with empty stomachs (not totally empty- they ate rice and chicken). They were all relieved (as I knew they would be- that meant no more spinach).
We tucked them in bed, reminded them that we love them even though some days are “different” than others, and they returned that unconditional love that is built into the heart of every child. No matter what we do as parents, even when it is only a moment that passes between our ugliness toward them and our apology, kids are just so quick to forgive. Even when there is no apology from us, they want to hug us and love us…Why do we ever let our pride get in the way of acknowledging when we have been wrong? Children are such a treasure and a gift that we don’t deserve. Those precious little faces are the cause of great duress and emotional drainage, yet can be the source of such deep joy and satisfaction…so much depends on our perspective. My perspective today was a little dim, but ironically has brightened at the close of the night. I will go to sleep with joy knowing that tomorrow is another day I have with my children to love and be loved by them!!