Favorite Time of Day

Walking in the house from work is my favorite time of day. My daughter screams "Mommy's home" and runs to give me a hug. My son instantly turns towards my voice and starts crawling my direction. I'm amazed every day that they are glad to see me. I get a quick rundown of the day from the babysitter, say bye to her at the door with kids in my arms or by my side and then we get a few quick minutes of playtime before I start dinner. The evening seems to fly by and before you know it, Daddy comes home, we eat, I clean up about 25% of the meal and toys strewn around, then we are off to the bathtub. I'm always wishing we had time for a quick 15 or 20 minute walk after dinner. Maybe I should aspire for a walk just once a week.

Here's where things go wrong... bedtime. My daughter manipulates me throughout bedtime. More books, have to potty, need water, change the music, turn the light on and off, she wants to sit with me (hard to resist). So it takes me over an hour to get her to bed. My husband manages to get her into bed in about 20 minutes. I just don't get it. I've said too many times that I hate bedtime. I end up frustrated with her and frustrated with myself that I can't enjoy bedtime with my daughter. So instead of dealing with it, I've made myself busy with my son at bedtime so my husband ends up putting her to bed more often.

But once the kids are in bed, I feel like my "day" begins. Now is my time... my time to get something accomplished. There are times when I wish it was truly "my time" but it ends up being time to get laundry done, dishes done, dishwasher emptied, bills payed, emails answered, etc. Many nights I run to the grocery store or target at 8:30 or 9pm because I don't have any other time in the day to do it. But it's still my time. I may not always be doing what I want... getting manicures, reading, going to a pilates class, shopping or just sitting out enjoying a margarita... but it's still my time. Maybe someday I'll forget all those things I'm supposed to do and just do what I want.