One on One - It's Really the Way to Go

The four of my children together can be delightful. They can also be very, very difficult. I'm sure if you've read this blog at ALL you can think of a number of things that would fall into (hopefully) both of these categories. One of the things that I struggle with, being the Mommy to a whole bunch of boys, is trying to give everyone what he needs and still retain some semblance of my identity and sanity. It's really tough to balance.

Enter one on one time. Recently I've had unplanned, purely accidental one on one time with 3 of the kids and it's been eye opening. In a good way.

First, I was heading out the door earlier this week to run a few errands. As a general rule, I like to do this ALONE. Because, it isn't all that often that I get to be alone, and while I used to simply hate it, I really do crave time alone these days. Then Mark sweetly asked "Can I come with you?" And, in the interest of being totally honest, I said "no." Then he said "But whyyyyyyy?" And I felt guilty and told him to get his shoes on. Eric decided to stay home with daddy, and meanie me didn't give Zack the option. So off we went. I already detailed some of the really cute things Mark said and did in another post, but we really had a great time. We didn't even do anything that would normally be considered fun, but it was nice.

Last night, we were watching the Olympics and Eric appeared at the top of the stairs. He needed to "show me something on his leg." So I let him come down. He had a bug bite that he had scratched, that was a convenient excuse to get out of bed. I asked him if he'd like to watch volleyball with us and he did. It was so much fun listening to him be excited about the game, talking about how HE would like to be in the Olympics someday and swim super fast like the swimmers he saw earlier in the day (recorded on dvr.) He even went to bed without complaint after the game was over.

This morning Zack was in my bed (as he is most mornings.) I woke up to chubby arms around my neck and "Good Morning Mommy." "Mommy, can I see your eyes? Your eyes look GREAT Mommy!" "Mommy I am going to KISS you." Then he did. "AND I am going to HUG you." Then he squeezed my neck.

It felt nice to have some time, with just one kid even if the times were brief. I think it was great for all of us. Now that I remember what that is like I think I'll work a little harder at spending time with one boy (or two) at a time when I can.