For some reason I thought the hardest part of walking my kindergartener to school would be getting there in time. My 5-year-old loved to run ahead while my 3-year-old would doddle. The 3-year-old would get distracted and want to collect rocks or point out cars as we walked by them. We had done the trip to school a number of times before the first day just so I could get a sense of how long it would take and I could just feel that I would spend my mornings grinding my teeth as I tried to get us there before the bell. Well school is now in full swing, and I have to admit that getting there in time has not been an issue. If both boys run, we get there in 7 minutes. If one of them doddles, we get there in 12 - and either way we aren't close to being too late or too early.
Okay so the most difficult part of getting to and from school seems to be in reminding the boys that it isn't safe to walk in the street!! The sidewalk is clearly a different shade of gray, so it's not like they could easily be confused. But every morning I get asked at least 5 times (by the 3-year-old) why he can't walk in the street. Now I know he is familiar with the reason why, so what I can't figure out is why the question keeps coming. Does he just like to hear my explanation? Does he just want to ask me a question and can't come up with something else to talk about? Does he want to hear his own voice? Does he want to hear my voice? Or is it truly that he is seeing how many times he can ask that same question (while standing barely in the street) before my head literally pops off.
These boys definitely remind me why people who are mentally unstable might not be a good fit for parenthood - way too much patience required. And why at the end of the day the only thing I really want to hear is the sound of... nothing.
I hear ya!
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