Butt up

Patrick's new phrase is "butt up". He uses it in lieu of "shut up", thinking it won't get him into trouble. Interesting theory. He is really into inertia these days and it's nearly impossible to get him to leave the house for anything, even stuff he loves to go do. I have gone as far as to pull the car out of the garage and pretend that I am leaving without him. So then I go back in to see if he has noticed. Oh no, just hiding under a blanket, still in just underwear. After a lot of yelling he will finally get dressed and go get in the car. And then spend a few minutes screwing around in there, playing with everything in the back, and then get in his seat and slowly buckle. Chocolate does motivate him but it would result in a lot of chocolate over the course of a day which he obviously does not need. Getting the girls to school every morning with the littles in tow will be interesting, especially since they are both going through a sleep late stage. Unbelievable, right? Pretty sure that will end as soon as school gets out and we have no place we have to be.

Sean has instructed me to not tell people I will be "just fine" with him gone, for fear that everyone will know that he doesn't help around the house. First of all, people want to hear that we'll be just fine so of course that's what I'll say. Second of all, how much we will miss him is in no way related to the amount of housework he does. Complaining about how he rarely does the dishes is like giving up candy for Lent: it's something a child does. I could not care less if he helps with chores around the house, they aren't that hard to do. I can unload the dishwasher practically in my sleep and that's exactly what happens most mornings while I am making my tea and not really awake yet. I appreciate if he makes an effort to help because I know he'd rather be doing something else but instead is trying to make me happy. However, I'm not mad when I do it all myself and thus when he's gone and I will always be doing it myself, I will be fine. I will increase how much the kids help around the house though but really, that's for their benefit. Definitely easier for me to do it than train them to do it and nag them to do it...

Speaking of what children give up for Lent, Anna told me she is giving up lying for Lent. Oh good, so I can expect her to go right back to full on non-stop lying after Easter?? If only Patrick gave up some of his bad behavior...