More than anything else, my kids make me happy.

More than anything else, my kids make me happy. This is what happened today.

I play this stupid cooking game on the computer. I know it's stupid. Brainless. Redunkulous even. But I'm sadly addicted to the game, and I'm checking it every time I get five quiet minutes. I don't get very many quiet minutes, between a two month old who doesn't really nap and a five year old who's been yanked from school until she got her H1N1 vaccine. (say what you will, h1n1 is effing scary. I don't care if it's been blown out of proportion. I don't care if the chances of one of my children dying of h1n1 is smaller than the chances of one of them dying while getting hit by a car. way smaller. I know that canada hasn't studied the vaccine. I know other countries have. I know. I ALSO know that the chances of my child catching h1n1 at school and bringing it home to my 2 month old are higher than not, and I KNOW that if anything were to happen, I would never forgive myself. So before any one jumps down my throat about the stupid vaccine, just back up and don't ok?)

So anyways, this is why my kids make me happy. I play this stupid cooking game. I check it often, 30 seconds at a time, maybe ten times a day. I have a borned perfectly healthy five year old, and a demanding 2 month old who rarely naps. Between crying and questions, bed time and meal times, laundry and dishes, demands of child 1 and demands of child 2, I have 0 minutes of truely free time. I rarely have the time to just sit down and play with Faith anymore. It makes me sad...because she's a pretty cool kid. So the other day, while Mark wasn't working, Faith came up to me and asked me to play kitchen with her in her room. What I wanted to do was say no, and sit down somewhere nobody else was and listen to quiet. But instead, a little voice told me that if I won't play kitchen with her but I will play it bymyself on the computer, lines will be drawn and dots connected in her head in ways I don't want. So up to her room I went.

This is approximately the best conversation ever.

Faith: here's a menu customer! (on it is a picture of spagetti, chicken noodle soup and cake, every five year olds stand by list)

Me: I'll have spagetti and poo balls please

Faith: M-O-M!

Me: Ok, just regular plain old spagetti then

Faith: Just pretend I have more ingredients than shapes and princesses ok? (to any imaginary disney characters hovering in her closet, that must seem diabolical)

Me: Ok, I'll pretend you have more than shapes and princesses.

Faith: Wait! I have string!!!!

Me: Oh good! Yummy. Could I have some tea too?

Faith: Fine...sigh. (seriously not getting a tip) Here's your tea and salt.

Me: mmmmmmmm.

Faith: If you're finished your spagetti I have something else I'm cooking.

Me: All done! What did you cook?

Faith: a salami. a spicy one.

Me: How did you cook me a spicy salami?

Faith: I used my recipe book (goes and gets story book from shelf)

Me: is that like gramma's recipe book?

Faith: no mom, it's a story book. I'm pretending. (she saves her "god-mom-you're-such-a-fucking-idiot" tone of voice and her "I'm-surrounded-by-idiots" tone of face for this line.

Me: Oh! Pardon me, I didn't notice. Are you pretending it's like grammas recipe book then?

Faith: yes yes yes yes yes. Here's you're salami

Me: it's too spicey. Could I have the not spicey kind?

Faith: Fine, but you'll have to wait for three hours while I cook ANOTHER one and I have to wash all of your dishes. You're not my only cutomer you know!


Then she proceeded to ignore me while she served her barbies.


This is the other reason my kids make me happy.

I was gone all day, taking Faith for her shot, going to walmart etc etc and Marlee was home with her Dad. I left at ten this morning, and got back maybe at three. I barely saw her, and she barely saw me. I didn't think she'd really notice. Apparently she did.
She smiled so big at me, and ran through all her tricks. Then she started making her imminent starvation noises so I fed her. Around a mouthfull of boob, she continued to stare at me and chat at me. She babbled her first real sound. Not just noise. A real sound. She said A-GHEE. Before she said A-GHEE she was a very floppy baby, with almost no personality. She was just a new born. But now, now she belongs to the world. Her first big milestone...passed already. Over. Just like that.

Maybe that doesn't seem like a big deal to most people. Maybe that seems possitively boring, right next to watching paint dry. Maybe to you, that isn't the description of a day you would rank with your best. I understand. But for me...I would rather have this kind of day any day.

I got to go on a trip with my big girl, and she took me to her world. Where you're never sure if you're pretending right or not. Then my baby talked to me about her day. I didn't understand it...but she talked.

My kids don't just make me happy. They give me peace, the give me serenity. They tether me to the earth, they make it spin. They make every moment worth breathing in. They really are the best kids, and this really is the best life.

What did I do to get so lucky?