Mr. Mom

In Christy's absence, I ended up being the Mom of the house. Quite a step up from my usual position. Of course, she was only able to leave because I had the week off, changing my week "off" to a week "on". I was here with three kids and responsibilities like parent-teacher conferences, play dates, laundry, homework, tae kwon do, 1/2 school days, etc. Basically it was as you assumed: a mess. I tried my best. And this is with cheating. You don't see dinners on the list because I made frozen pizza, rotisserie from the deli, lasagna (freezer) and so on. I did make breakfast on Friday because the kids had the day off (but they let me sleep in to make it possible).

Now this seems completely normal. I'm sure that anyone could have guessed how my week would have been. But in the quiet evening, while watching I Am Sam (a mentally handicapped man is raising his now 7 year-old daughter), I reflected back on the moment of me yelling at Toran to form just one sentence for his book report. It just brought me to tears that I showed less love and patience than a (fictitious) mentally slower father. Why was I yelling? Would this help the report? Maybe. Would it help Toran? I can only assume NO. He's a brilliant kid who has a hard time doing those things that he hates, like writing a report. I STILL have that problem. But I was yelling at him just the same.

Well, NO MORE YELLING! (Although, the way I wrote that, looks like I was yelling.)

I love you Toran!