Bonding

Pippin cleans Tommy's face:) nightly!

Sisters... Supposed to be doing school...

The best dog ever.

We missed each other, too!:)

Events...

It's been an interesting week...

Mark is training every waking moment with Pippin- which is good- we are all so on-board with this, so I'm not trying to whine, or sound like woe-to-me- because it's fine, it's what we knew we were signing up for- this means, though, that it's just me and the kids all day for several days at a time. Again, I'm on board, the kids are on board, and Mark and Pippin are doing fantastic! 

It's just that I have to handle every issue. Light bulbs, may I say, are one of those things... I hate changing light bulbs. I know it's weird... It's just that I hate doing it.  I can do clogged toilets, but I don't do spiders (I have a threshold- if it's bigger than my pinky nail then it's too big).  I can run kids to the doctor, practices, pharmacy, etc. no worries, but I can't stand it if there's a snake in the yard - and they always show up when Mark isn't home. What is that?!

So, it's not really a struggle, moment for moment, it's just that when a big moment, a big deal happens, I'm wondering if I'll be able to deal... Like a grown-up, you know. I'm thinking yes... But...

I had to deal with this on Wednesday: 

"Mom, em em em! I lost k8 it's terrible! Me & a animal sure I can watch but a small human child with a motor scoot!!!? What do u think i am? The flash? Rainbow dash? Sonic?!!! U think I can keep up with a pink motor scooter? She's prob @ Germany by now! SOS! O ps I'm starved what's 4 din?- " 

Then: " K I might have freaked out, the bike's n the garage, but what if some1 has taken her? If some1 has Hell hath no fury like a big bro scorned I'll keep u updated"

So, I've left Tommy and Katie alone (disclaimer: they are both independent and perfectly ok to be left alone, of age and all that) for 30 minutes to run their sister to guitar practice. I'm amazed, here, because Tommy is not social. At all. He's autistic (high functioning). How does he know how to text so well? Secondly, when I left, they were both in the kitchen listening to music. What on earth? Mind you, I'm not freaked out, I'm wondering at the complexity of Tommy's brain. He's kind of quoting Shakespeare, here, yet thinks his sister is riding a pink scooter to Germany... From the east coast of the USA.  Also, he's hungry. When the crisis is over, he expects food (I stopped at Little Ceasars- can't beat $5 pizza- especially in an "event"). Also, he is thinking I expect him to be a running- type of super hero. Um, not even.

So, of course, I text back "have you found her yet?"

He replies:: "Not yet!!! I looked around, & n the house, n the backyard & the front 1 2 also n the garage, n her room around the block, @ her closest hood friends houses & even @ the school playground! The only thing lft 2 do is post a nwa (hood wide alert) just n case u didn't know, she couldn't have gotten far!"

Ok, so reason is returning. Somewhat. She isn't in Germany anymore, but now I have a hand-flapping-seventeen-year-old getting ready to start knocking on doors. I'm impressed he's thought through where to look for her, actually. He's wanting to utilize community resources. She's 11, and little-miss-independent (unless it's cloudy, but that is another story), so I'm getting upset (between fits of laughter) because I'm fairly certain she's toying with him, and hiding.

So, I'm handling this right? I reply to him that we are 30 seconds out, don't worry the neighbors, I'm almost home.

Here's the resolution:  "Just found her!:) the lil bugger took a walk & listened 2 some music somewhere without my permission!!! She almost gave me a heart atak the lil stink!!! Just wait till u get home! "

Crisis averted, all is well, pizza is ready. It turns out she did tell him she was walking around our very safe little block, but was listening to music (Ariana Grande. On repeat, people), so she didn't hear him calling for her. He was also listening to music ("eye of the tiger" on repeat) when she told him, so he didn't hear her.

I love my crew!!! My sweet family drives me crazy sometimes! I struggle with making all the right choices, infusing responsibility, but not hovering!!! I need to give all my anxieties to God, and be peaceful... It is such a struggle, though, for someone who has anxiety (that would be me). I think in this little story, though, we are seeing a few victories: I wasn't scared, God showed a sense of humor, everyone rose to the occasion and showed responsibility and love (after the initial scare, of course,and the fight over which piece of pizza they were getting), and we all talked about the buddy system, and paying attention, and teachable moments like that. It's all good. For real.

Then we laughed, and laughed, and joked about how our family would make a great reality TV show. 

Bless it.