Back to Life...Back to Reality

The kids first day back to school was Mariah and Chris' last day with us.  I was so sad to have the normal school routine start all over again.  I LOVE summer.  I love the fun adventures, the sleeping in, the lazy days, the yummy breakfasts, the reading til it's late and not caring what time the kids go to bed...I love it all.  

So I was a little sad when Monday came.  The kids made it through the week quite well, although I knew the exhaustion of the early mornings was quickly catching up to them.  The following Sunday night, I don't know what happened with Jake, but he was up 6 times during the night.  Bathroom break; wanting to sleep in our bed; oh! forgetting his water, so getting up to go retrieve it; deciding he didn't want to sleep with us, and would rather sleep on the ground next to us;  going on a hunt to find the perfect blankets for his new spot; oh, maybe another bathroom break... the night dragged on and on and on and on.   I was tired.  I was mad.  I was dying.  I knew that life would be miserable when 6:20 came the following morning.  

I got the kids off to school and when I came back 2 hours later to help in Jake's classroom, he looked AWFUL.  The dark circles and bags around the eyes were quite apparent.  I always come to help out during the stations time in his class.  I play word games with kids or help with art projects or we do puzzles... there are all sorts of stations and sometimes the children can pick and other times the teachers assign who goes where.  Well this particular day, Jake was not a part of my group.  I got going on a rhyming game with the kids at my table, and I happen to look over and see that Jake has chosen the cool fort they have built in their classroom as his station.  But he's not playing.  He is lying flat on his back, with his arms and legs stretched out, just staring up at the ceiling.  He stayed like that for the entire 1+ hour that I was there.  

When it came time for me to go, I went to give him a kiss and he hung on to me and begged to go home with me. The conversation went like this:

"Maybe you should have gone to bed last night like I told you to."

"Mom, I'm not tired!"

"Really?"

"No!  Not at all!  I just want to spend some time with my family! PLEASE can I come home with you?"

Wow.  He really knows how to work it.  And he knows exactly what is important to me.  I guess that's good, right?  I made him go explain to his teacher why he wanted to come home, and then we left hand in hand.  Sometimes you just need some down time.  Luke couldn't have been happier to have Jake home a little earlier than usual.  Me too.