But why Mommy? Why?

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. 

Strip Jeopardy

This morning I found myself a little frustrated.  I have always been the sort of person that likes to learn new things and share those things with others so they can also benefit.  So when I come across a piece of information that it seems someone else is lacking, I want to let him/her know about it so they can be better educated in their decision making.  In an attempt to help a friend this morning I was immediately confronted by someone who was of the opposite mind-set.  Here I was trying to help, and this other individual was clearly just wanting to have the last word and claim their dominance in the subject.  I knew my educated advice trumped their poorly informed opinion, but is there really a way to debate someone whose judgement is clouded by their testosterone?

It took me back to an evening 7 years ago when my boyfriend (now husband) and I were settled into our apartment.  I liked a good game of Jeopardy, so he suggested we could play "strip jeopardy" to make it interesting.  In the game of Jeopardy, it's not about who rings in the most, it's about who has the most right answers... but clearly someone has yet to convince my husband of this.  By the time we had finished the first round, I was still fully dressed, and he was sitting next to me completely naked.  I'm still giggling just thinking about it right now.  He made up the rules, yet didn't think to suggest that if you won a question you told the other person to take something off.  Nope, you only had to strip if you guessed wrong.  So why was I fully dressed?  Well, I don't ring in and answer unless I'm 95% positive that I know the correct response.  And unfortunately for him, there weren't any sports questions and he couldn't resist the urge to shout out incorrect answers.

  

So what does this have to do with my morning?  Well, I kind of came to the realization that there are some people who like to talk just to hear their own voices.  They genuinely feel that whatever their opinion of a subject is, it is more important than another person's professional/experiential knowledge.  Oh, and it's not worth arguing with them, because there is no one that can change their mind - besides, I can just blog about it to unleash my frustration.  As for my husband, we haven't had a round of strip Jeopardy since my 3-year-old was conceived, and he has started to realize that sometimes I know what I'm talking - only took 6 years of marriage.