MOM YOU DIDN'T DO IT.

Today it was all my fault.  It's always the mother's fault, right?  But some lessons were learned, I do believe.

It was my fault Spidey had to study his addition.  I mean, the fun way didn't work, so now we have to try and memorize.

It was my fault he wandered away from us in a store.  The first time he whimpered, "Mom, you walked away from me.  I was looking at a toy,"  I smiled and answered, "I'm sorry, dear, I told you we were in a hurry and trusted you were behind me."  The second time he accused me of heartlessness I said, "Excuse me sir, I already told you we're in a hurry and you need to stay with us.  I'm sorry you chose to go another way.  You can be responsible for seeing us when we're in front of you."   He sulked, but did not wander again.

We settled back into the mom-mobile for the trek home.  Superdad was driving.  Before we left, we'd adjusted headrests, acquired ice for water that had warmed up a bit, made sure toys were in reach, ensured the bathroom was used, draped blankets on little bodies, and generally made sure they were comfortable.  Sitting in the passenger seat I opened a book to read.  For once I was reading just for fun, no parenting books in sight!

A little voice chirped, "Mom, you don't LOVE us.  You're READING.  If you LOVED us you would talk to us, NOT READ."

Huh.  Who knew?

I placed an old receipt in the book, set it down and said, "I'm sorry, I'm taking care of myself.  I love you very much, reading a book doesn't mean I don't love you, it means I'm taking care of me."  I picked up the book, opened it to the marked page and resumed reading.

A wondrous thing happened.

The kid started to draw and to play with his brother.

He did test the boundaries of talking back an hour or so later, but for the most part he took it all in stride.

That boy has me wrapped around his little finger.  I wonder how he knows I love him when he's off playing with a friend?