Eight Weeks in the Can

My friend Andria came over for dinner last night with her little girl, Meredith. (I steamed vegetables and walked over to the Memphis Pizza Café to retrieve two pies.)

I could see that Andria was mildly alarmed when Satchel and Jiro starting running through the house tackling each other. As I calmly ate my pizza, I explained, “This is the result of eight weeks with no daddy.”

Jiro stopped running every few minutes to stop and lay down on the floor so Satchel could run over and jump on him. “You would think that would hurt,” I said over their giggles, “but apparently it’s funny.”

“Here Mommy,” Meredith said as she handed Andria some of her pizza, “Let’s share.”

I held back my tears as I said, “I often wonder what it would be like with girls. Or just one girl.”

“I promise this isn’t her normal behavior,” she lied.

Meredith looked on with wide eyes as Satchel and Jiro scooted their Kinderzeats over to the family bed and fashioned their own diving boards. “Go ahead and join them,” I said. “I’m too exhausted to care.” She gleefully removed her shoes and climbed aboard. Soon they were all three bouncing with abandon.

Meredith grabbed a piece of rubber liner from the safety mats surrounding the bed and began beating Jiro gently on the back. “Stop!” he yelled, as though suddenly delicate.

“Only I can hit Jiro,” Satchel explained.

Meredith accepted this without blinking and went back to jumping.

As we looked on, I could see the sand from the school playground falling from the boys’ hair, pockets, cuffs, and crevices. There was a small beach forming on the duvet. “That’s going to suck later,” I commented to Andria.

It’s been a long eight weeks folks.

The first couple of weeks were marked by a determination to cook on my own and fanciful bedtime stories. I planned menus and told stories featuring multiple plot lines and valuable lessons to be learned. Next, I started baking cookies. Then I found a great babysitter so Warren and I could have some alone time on the weekends. I weaned Jiro single-handedly so everyone (namely me) could get a decent night’s sleep. I even joined the Roller Derby for Maude’s sake!

Last night in bed, I tried to remind myself of my achievements while I begged Jiro to stop pulling my hair, pleaded with Satchel to go to sleep without a story, and picked sand out of my jammies.