Bedtime Rituals

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jeremy works a second job teaching computer programming night courses, which means he doesn't come home until a little after 9pm. This also means, I'm supposed to be the one putting the kids to bed on those nights. And it stands to reason that these same said kids will attempt whatever they possibly can to stay up until Daddy walks into the door. After all, they haven't seen him since 7:30 that morning.

As much as Jeremy pretends to be disappointed in me for letting them stay up late, he is equally thrilled to see them when he walked into the door. Last night, being boring predictable mom, I started a reading a book to them, "The Akhenaten Adventure" from The Children of the Lamp series. I figured a story before bed would be a great way to settle down. I had no sooner closed the book, and told them to go upstairs to brush their teeth when Jeremy came home.

"DADDDY!!!!!!!!!" they cried and swarmed him before he could take off his jacket and deposit his laptop case on the floor. "Daddy! DADDY DAAAADDDY!!!!!!!!"
"I missed you"
"We were reading a book"
"Did you have a good day at work?"
"We had beans and rice for dinner."
"I got my drums practiced"
"What did you have for dinner."
"STOP! I was talking to Daddy first!"
"No I was!"
"NO ME!"
"GUYS! You're always talking when I'm trying to talk!"
"Can we do barrel races?"

Barrel races? Oohhhh barrow races, as in wheelbarrow races. Uh, hmm. Wheelbarrow race?

Now, from the time Joshua was little, Jeremy had bedtime duty because I was too tired by the end of the day. I was home alone with the kid, all day, every day. One more moment with him was going to risk shortening his life span. It was a survival thing. And Jeremy really liked bedtime with the kids. Typically, after dinner, he takes over, and I disappear. Quickly.

I am not usually privy to the bedtime antics of the household. So I was a bit confused when they started jumping up and down and cheering, "Yeah! Barrel races! Lets have barrel races! Please please please!??"

Jeremy said, "Ooooh kaaaaay, but this time Hannah, I wanna see if you can actually make it up the stairs."

"I can do it. I can! I can!"
"Hannah you can't do it. Mama, watch this, she'll get about two steps up, and can't make it," Ruthie said.
"Yeah, she never makes it all the way up." Joshua added with his almost-twelve year old wisdom.

I held my breath. The mom in me wasn't too sure I really wanted to know about these "barrell races" and yet, it was clear this wasnt the first time. I was pretty sure Jeremy wouldn't do anything that would risk their lives. At least fairly sure. I decided to withhold judgement until I saw what was really going to happen.

The goal was to be the fastest walking up the stairs on their hands while Daddy held their feet.
"Me first, Me first!" Ruthie bellowed. Jeremy picked up her feet in his hands, and she started walking wheel-barrow style towards the stairs, and scaled them one by one. I heard her giggle once she made it to the top, followed by Jeremy's thunka-thunka-thunk as he made his way back down the stairs. Next he grabbed Hannah's feet. By this point, for better or worse, I was getting into spirit of the game. After a wobbly start, Hannah moved up the first two steps and hit the landing. Ruth started chanting from the top of the steps, "Hannah! Hannah! Hannah!" Joshua began chanting at the bottom, "Com'mon Hannah. You can do it! Com'mon! You can make it!" All of a sudden he shouted "YEAH!!!!!!!" Hannah made it to the second floor for the first time. Finally it came Joshua's turn.

"Oh no," Jeremy said as Joshua lay on the living room floor on his belly, waiting for his feet to be picked up. "You start out in the kitchen to be fair." Joshua hopped up as only the young can do, and leaped out to the kitchen. Joshua never walks. He runs, leaps, bounds, and gallops. The boys got into their positions and I called out, "On your marks! Get set! GO!!!!!!"
Joshua's hands pounded out on the floor a fast rhythm, slapping down hard as he tried to muscle himself towards the steps. His breath came out in loud gasps as he flew out from the kitchen, past me sitting on the couch, and up the stairs. Even with a handicap, he was determined to win. At the top of the stairs, I could hear the girls jumping up and down and shouting "Go Joshua! Go! GO! GOOOO!!!!!" I heard a loud thump when he reached the top as his body flopped to the floor. Jeremy kissed them all goodnight, sent them to their beds, and came down the stairs still huffing and puffing.

"Now there's a workout" he said as he flopped onto the couch.
"You know," I turned to him and said, "Most people probably don't do wheel barrow races up the stairs to put their kids to bed."
"Well, I'm not most people." He replied.

Thank God for that.

Christmas is coming...

And I have a carol stuck in my head. Not just any carol. Not a nice one about a restful, peaceful evening with shepherds and angels or anything. Nor a lullaby about some kid in a feed bin. Oh no, I've got Good King Wenceslas stuck in my head. Why? Because apparently the kids are singing it in chorus. And apparently they were singing it this morning. Because Jeremy decided to belt it out while shaving:

"Good King Wenceslas looked out, 'pon the feast of Steven
And the snow lay round about deep and crisp and even!"

He paused for a minute then said, "You know they wrote that line just so they had something to rhyme with Steven."

He started singing again, the melody of the second line:
"And when the bus comes round about, then I will be lea-vin...'"
"everyone gathered round are just a bunch of heathens..."
"And when my stomach gets upset then I'll be a hea-vin'..."


Gonna stop writing now, and finish up my wea-vin'.

Generation Gap

Joshua came home from drum lessons with a new book a few months ago called I've Got You Under My Skins.  He's been working on learning swing/jazz for about a year. His teacher felt it was time to step it up a bit and learn how to read jazz charts. The book is used in our area for the county jazz band try-outs, or rather, each year a different song from the book is chosen. A student cannot try out for counties until ninth grade. Joshua is in sixth.

One day, a few weeks ago, The Boy was struggling with a particular piece that the book is titled from, "I've Got You Under my Skin."  So, Jeremy decided to search you tube to find Old Blue Eyes singing.

As soon as it came up, Joshua nearly shouted, "You mean this is a REAL SONG?!??"

"Yeah. Didn't you know? Irv Cottler, the guy who wrote your book, was Frank Sinatra's drummer?"

"Who's Frank Sinatra?" Josh asked.

Didje This

Only in my house on an early Sunday morning would I walk into the bathroom to find my husband playing the didjeridoo into the bathtub.

"It's got great accoustics in here."

'Nuff said.