The joys of parenthood....

As many of you know, I have two boys, Caleb, who is 12 and Joey, who is 9. And this past week was "Catholic Schools Week" at their school which basically means they have different fun events at school like "Crazy Hat Day" and "Mix and Match Day" and my personal favorite "80's day" which makes me feel as old as the hills since when I went to school in the 80's we had "60's day". Don't laugh, just wait until your kids have "2000 Day". You'll know what I mean, and my kids will be grown and I'll be retired on a beach in Fiji . So when the schedule came home for the different days, one of the days listed was "Dress like a Historical Person Day". I specifically asked them if they wanted to do this, and they both rolled their eyes at me like that was the STUPIDEST thing they had ever heard. Hey, good with me, less work for me, right?

Fast forward to Monday of this past week. The scene: Dinner time. I am pouring milk, dishing out some various form of chicken and the Mandatory Green Vegetable when I hear them discussing this:

Caleb: "I'm going to be Abraham Lincon. Me and James are gonna be the Lincoln twins"
(Mom responding without really hearing what he said "James and I", not "Me and James")

Joey: "I'm going to be George Washington Carver" (The inventor of peanut butter. In Joey's mind, the man is a god and a genius because of this)

Suddenly I tune in. I look at them both, incredulous. It's Monday night. "Dress like an Historical Person" Day is Wednesday. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I have a million phone calls to make, yearly sales tax is due, and I have two client consults, an album rep meeting, and have to schlep Joey to basketball practice. I slowly and carefully put down the milk and ask "Where are you going to get these costumes? From the "Historical Character" closet in the front hall?" They look at me...stammer...uhhh. Um... Sigh.

After carefully and politically correctly explaining to Joey that George Washington Carver would be really cool, but would require a pretty elaborate costume since he is black, he changed his request to "Uncle Sam".

Let's just say you know you are a parent when you somehow figure out how to pull it off despite what you have going on. And someday, when their kids have "2020 Day" at school I will laugh at them as they scramble with construction paper and glue guns to make sure their kids feel like their parents cared enough to make sure they weren't the only kid who didn't have a costume.

Just you wait :)

Kim