This Mothering Gig

I was in the kitchen last week.

I was trying to put together something for dinner, which often means that I'm cleaning up a mess previously made by Chris and LEFT so that he could go to work, while simultaneously trying to cook for the Boy and myself.  It also means that, very often, the Girl is screaming her head off.  I'm not sure why, she's generally fed and clean and otherwise fine.  I suspect she feels a little left out and therefore MAD.

But back to last week.  I was trying to cook dinner and I had opened the blinds and windows because it was sunny and upper 60s and lovely and FRESH.  And my Boy seized the day.

I'm not sure why, but I'm regularly surprised by this Boy. 

I can count on 1 hand the number of times I've left him with my parents to go somewhere without him.  For three and half years, he's been this constant presence in my day to day life.  I know him better than I know Chris.  I know his little body better than my own.  I know what he will like and dislike.  I know his expressions, his fears, and exactly how to calm those fears.  And yet.  He still surprises me every day.  He'll look up with an expression on his face that I haven't seen yet.  He'll tell me something that I didn't know he knew.  He'll make me laugh until my head hurts.

He knows all the words to Adele's "Rumor has it".  He loves animals of all kinds.  He knows the names of all the dinosaurs and says them, for no particular reason other than they're fun words to say.  He picks up on elements of adult conversation and works them in for a laugh whenever possible.  He knows how to use a iphone better than Chris and I do.

I was telling my Mom the other day, how I could have gone back for a PhD.  I could be working in an academic department, reading and writing and leading a rich intellectual life.  But then, that would be EASY.  It would be predictable, quiet and steady.  Being home with this Boy?  That's my Adventure.