Walking and Running (and One Tired Mama)

Last night we were all in the living room, the boys watching the race (did I really say that? I can't believe there are Nascar fans in my own house!) and I attempting to straighten things up before bedtime. At one point, I noticed a little boy standing on the couch with an exultant grin on his face, which in itself is far from unusual in this house, except that ths time when I saw it there was something not quite right...it took my brain a couple seconds to catch up, and when it did, I realized that it was Chase standing on the couch! Aghast, I scooped him and surveyed the scene - had climbed up and over the child-size armchair that had been pushed near the couch, and since both Dave and I were right there, he must have done it in a matter of seconds. Sure enough, when I put him down, he scaled the chair again, and climbed up onto the couch, perfectly delighted with himself. Dave chuckled, "You're in for it now," but in reality, Chase had already begun to contribute to the happy chaos here. He took his first steps at the end of January, and in a couple weeks was a very steady walker, but I didn't think his walking would really affect my daily routine much, since he it seemed he had already been able to get where he wanted crawling and cruising. I was, of course, quite wrong! The week he really hit his stride as a walker, I was exhausted trying to keep up with him - it was as if a whole new world had opened up to him, and he intended to explore every bit of it all day long. He also became more assertive and demonstrative, very much as if he realized he had been putting up with quite a bit of inequality and oppression from his siblings all this time - and didn't have to any longer. So while I have applauded his new skill, life has certainly become more challenging - I don't know when the house will ever be clean again, and school has become more difficult than ever. As to the former, I'll have to swallow my pride and supress my compulsions; as to the latter, I guess we'll just have to work on math skills another year! ;-)

Truthfully, though, it's not all Chase's fault we're having difficulty getting things done. Last week Dave started taking an electrical class at Midland's Tech on Tuesday and Thursday nights, and Aimee and Drew also began soccer at the YMCA. Drew's Wedneday night practice was manageable (even though Dave was working late and I still had all the kids there), but Aimee's Thursday night practice was something else indeed. In the first place, Thursday night was quite cold, and the practice was after dark, so the little ones were not entirely comfortable, and I was nervous watching the boys run off in different shadowy directions. We made it work for a time, but eventually they all croseed a threshhold of tolerance, and when I collected Aimee as soon as practice ended, it appeared she had crossed that threshhold as well. We marched back to the car, across three soccer fields and one street, with four crying children (the boys at the top of their lungs, no less!) and one numb mother determined to enlist some help for the next week. Game day on Saturday was hectic, too, but at least Dave was home to make it a more possible venture. He took Aimee and Ryan to the girls-only league game in downton Columbia (had I known they would be playing some games there, I might have insisted she play on the co-ed league), and I took Drew and Chase to the Y near our house. Neither of our teams won, but the kids, of course, had a terrific time, so I guess we'll make this soccer thing work - and try to be cheerful about it!