Side by side in orbit

Last night, Mike worked late, as he will again tonight. He's trying to tie up a lot of loose ends before classes start at the college, and sometimes it's best for him to work into the evening--he gets a ton of stuff done after all the meetings and phone calls are done for the day. These late days don't happen often, but every once in a while it just needs to be done. The only problem with these sort of days is that it's hard for the boys (mainly Evan) to deal with the change in routine. Honestly, it's hard for me too--the days can be long when you're at home with two little guys, and I always look forward to the help and adult conversation at 5:15.

I realize that I'm very lucky to be able to stay home with the boys. I also realize that I'm lucky to have a husband who works such predictable hours. He doesn't have to go in on weekends, or holidays, or do 12 hour shifts. But I guess I'm spoiled, because these days that he works late leave me a little frazzled. I tend toward frazzled as a natural state, so I guess it's not much of a stretch, but I definitely don't look forward to the long afternoon. For instance, yesterday when Mike got home, I started referring to Evan as "your son". As in, "I can't come get Grady right now, I'm fixing your son a snack." You know it's bad when you start giving your partner sole ownership of the children.

I read somewhere this week that parenting was a job with very long days and very short years (if I can find the exact quote again, I'll share it). That's absolutely true, and I've never heard it said better. The days can seem like weeks sometimes, especially if you've got a teething toddler or a incredibly talkative preschooler. But the years fly by so quickly--I can hardly believe Evan's starting kindergarten, and I wonder almost daily where Grady's babyhood went. I'm guilty of getting caught up in the little things, the annoyances and troubles that can make the days so difficult. I really need to step back and look at the bigger picture. This is their only childhood, and there will be good days and bad days but I need to do my best to make it a happy time.

Today we have stuff to do--a trip up to school to meet with Evan's support teacher for an hour, and then we've got a date with the playground. The weather is perfect for some "last day of summer" fun, and we'll try to enjoy every minute. Even the extra long ones.