Last Wednesday was my kids’ last day of school. I still had school until Friday. On Thursday, my ten year old had a meltdown and exclaimed, “Summer is the worst.”
I was deflated and my summer hadn’t even begun yet.
After a rocky weekend, everyone now officially on summer time, I’m exhausted. I’m waiting for our summer rhythm to hit. The kids have swam, despite the chilly June temperatures. We need to get back in the habit of cleaning up the pool toys before coming in the house to shower and also cleaning up all the dirty clothes and towels after showering.
I’ve been trying to go easy on the bedtimes, but there is still that obvious moment when the kids go from being fine to being overtired- when things go from calm to chaos in the blink of an eye. We’re working on sibling tolerance, finding better ways to deal with our annoyances, and differentiating between big and small problems.
Tonight, Adi and I were stringing beads together at the kitchen table. I ordered shiny new summer activities to do with the kids, in hopes of inspiring peace and tranquility. One of her sisters came bounding through the room and Adi muttered something under her breath. “I said the ‘what the f’ part in my head,” she informed me. Adi has been testing out some fun language she has picked up in her travels. We have realized that she often has no idea what she is saying. Last week’s hit phrase was “if you smelt it you dealt it.”
Back to the, “I said the ‘what the f’ part in my head….”
“If this was a book, that would be slanted,” she informed me. “My teacher told me. I never knew. But when the words are slanted, it’s what the characters are thinking.”
Italics, I thought to myself.
I’m taking the fact that she said it in her head as a sign that our summer rhythm is kicking in.
Peace and tranquility, I’m ready for you.
Where There Is Joy 
Your slice perfectly documents the chaos / peaceful mood as summer begins in your household. I am confident that you will make it through this summer with your girls. My evidence is your calm reaction to your daughter’s language. And Ali gets an A+ from me for connecting her actions/thoughts to the craft of writing!
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Summer rhythm takes time. My guess is by Friday you will all have found it and the peace and tranquillity will be yours.
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Camp Carey is up and running!
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Jessica,
I’m gonna show my age and my hillbilly upbringing by saying I expected something outrageous had come from your child’s mouth. I suppose I’m from the “Who smelt it dealt it” generation of bathroom humor or spent too much time w/ teen boys and their verbal diarrhea. Anyway, as much as we love summer, it can be challenging to keep the kiddos entertained and busy.
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Oh, so many parts of this made me chuckle. These are mighty goals: sibling tolerance, finding better ways to deal with our annoyances, and differentiating between big and small problems but I am sure once you get into the swing of things, you will find that peaceful ryhthm! Enjoy!
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I’m looking at your summer from a very different vantage–that of an empty nest. It’s peaceful here, but can be a bit too quiet as well. I’m fascinated by Adi’s comments, that she shared the edited ones with you (lol!) and by her linking them to writing. I mean that’s a win for sure! I am also sure everything will fall into place and the summer will find its rhythm, even if there are sure to be a few hiccups along the way. Enjoy!
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Thanks for sharing a glimpse of your summer with us. I’m still laughing at Adi’s comment.
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Though there will be upas and down, I hope that majority of the summer will be filled with fun and joy, and you will have moments when you can be fully relaxed and do nothing.
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Everyone else already said what I could’ve said. You capture the reality of parenting here. You capture the reality of parenting as a teacher – so many could have missed Adi’s comment. But, no, you caught it and appreciated it. Transitioning to summer ain’t always easy! But I’m here to say, you will survive and despite what Wren said, they’ll remember summer as the best — I believe!
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