Watch Me“Mom! Mom! MOM!!!!” the girls call to me in unison getting progressively louder.
“What!?” I ask slightly irritated.(To be fair, I am deaf in one ear, so when I am absorbed in something, I really don’t hear them.)
“Watch me!”
They then proceed to show the their cartwheels, dance routine, play or cheer for the tenth time in the last hour.
“Great!” I smile and return to my book, laptop, gardening, laundry or whatever else has preoccupied my mind.
“Mommy!”
“What?” I ask again cranky.
“Watch us! Please!”
They then start their routine over.
I sigh. Smile wryly and silently ask God for patience.
Does this sound familiar? Or is it just me? Have you ever noticed when you start talking on the phone,, pulling weeds in the garden or reading a good book or writing a blog article, that all of a sudden your children take a special interest in you? Their neediness moves into overdrive, questing for my undivided attention to the point of almost rudeness. As an introvert I need to have a little “me” time to escape into my thoughts and recharge. A time where I don’t have to answer questions or find lost shoes or help with chores or make a PB&J sandwich. I long for interrupted alone time, but lately this time has alluded me. Pushed to my limits of patience, I become a bit “grouchy” and a little “snappy” with them.
Don’t get me wrong. I love spending time with my girls. Working 40 hours a week in my day job, they miss me and I miss them. I enjoy their company, yet also enjoy my own company. I need to find the balance between “mommy” time, “work” time and “wife” time (yes, my husband wants me time too – go figure) and “me” time. My head throbs trying to work it out so everyone gets their “piece” and there is still enough left over for me.
In the past I tried getting up extra early in the morning to carve out that time. Lately though, insomnia’s knocked right on my door around 3 AM, so I’m just falling back asleep when the early alarm goes off. I’m not sure how to solve this problem and am not likely to figure it out this evening as…guess what?
The girls are calling me. They need help feeding their rabbits, getting a Popsicle from the freezer and…
Any ideas? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Undaunted 
Are they too old for nap time? If so, I try to rent a movie that they’ll be absolutely enthralled with then hide in my creativity cave of wonder (hopefully you have your own cave). Hang in there, it will get better 🙂
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They are 5 and 10 and don’t want to nap nearly as much as I do! I like the movie idea – I need to try that one. I don’t have a creative cave – I need to get one! That sounds wonderful. Thanks for the ideas.
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Are you kidding?? Kids are born with an internal “mom” sensor that lets them know when they don’t have her undivided attention. It is particularly sensitive under the age of 10, but mine still occasionally goes off when my mom is about 5 pages from the end of her book!
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Lol! I don’t know how many times I’be said just give me 10 minutes to finish my book!
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