Reality Bites

Hard to believe we've been home from California for just over a week already.  It's been hard getting back into routine - what with being sick during our first week back, and having to get back into a routine of cooking dinner and resuming homeschool stuff, it's been a bit of a drag.  Possibly the most noticeable change, however, has been how much I've been thrust back into the role of playmate with my child.  Amazingly, I'd almost forgotten this in just two weeks away; those two weeks had Matthew's daddy around, and, in the second week, all of his cousins, too (including my five-year-old niece).  Matthew was occupied and entertained from morning til night and I barely had to lift a finger.

Thus, last week was a time of re-climatization (is that a word?).  One afternoon, for example, I suggested to Matthew that perhaps he could find something to do on his own for the next ten or fifteen minutes, while I sat down at the computer to pay some bills.  I hadn't even finished logging in before there was a loud sigh at my elbow and it was Matthew, leaning on my arm and saying, "Oh I really wish somebody would play with me."  Somebody, incidentally, would be me, given that we were the only two in the house.  He sounded so tragic and neglected and hard-done-by that I couldn't help it...I started to laugh.  He looked mildly offended so I tried to pull myself together, but he wasn't too happy with that either because I then went on to remind him that he and I had just finished doing some drawing together, prior to which we'd played a game of Chinese Checkers, prior to which we'd done some homeschooling, prior to which we played on the family room floor with his remote control jeep (he and I argue and wrestle and make deals for the controls of that thing - it's awesome!), prior to which we made and ate breakfast...also together.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining.  I don't feel like complaining.  I adore this kid.  I am glad that he's at home with me, and I'm glad that he wants to be at home with me.  I think I've just needed this week to make a small realignment in my expectations for home life...after all, we can't always be on vacation...can we??