"I'm too tired..."

Imagine this: its 7:18 pm, I'm in my oldest daughter's bedroom (actual age:3, her imagined age: 17) asking her to put on a Pull-Up before bed. For the past few nights she's wanted to put the Pull-Up on herself, so in the interest of encouraging her independence, tonight I ask her to "show me how big she is" and perform her latest accomplishment. To my surprise, she doesn't want to do it. As I'm writing this, though, it makes perfect sense she wouldn't want to do it once I asked her...she thinks she's a teenager, of course she'd rebel against this request. Anyway, her response was this (at the same time she is literally slowly sliding down her bean bag chair as if she has lost all energy) "But I'm just too tired from everything I do all day"

Are you kidding??? It was actually hysterical, and of course I started laughing and then she joined in the giggling. On second thought, though, I had to ask myself if I really whine like that. All my daughter does is repeat. She repeats it as I say it and then over and over and over again. So she's getting this from me.

The fact of the matter is I am too tired from everything I do all day. Like every other parent, I am sleep deprived. I should be sleeping right now but I'm writing this. But you know what? My house is quiet, my kids are sleeping, my husband is snoring and I'm free to do what I want for the next 7 hours. OK, I'm not going out or anything but that isn't even important. For the first time all day I'm just thinking about me. It sounds borderline pathetic, but I don't care, I've learned its the little things in life that make the biggest difference. I take care of my kids all day, try to keep my husband happy, make sure there is food in the house, clean the floors, vacuumn about 2 times a day, shower at night like all Mommies do, manage school & doctor appointments, put shoes away, take care of all house related disasters and drive a mini-van. And when I really dig down deep into who I am and who I want to be...the fact of the matter is, I love it. Everyday is a balance of routine and unexpected turns, but for better or worse, when Mommy speaks, they always listen.