If I love summer, why am I counting down the days?

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I've written anything! You might have noticed that I haven't been posting much this summer. There are three reasons for that. One, during the school year, at my part time nanny job, the older girl was in school. I only saw her one, maybe 2 hours a day. Um, how can I put this? I LIKED IT THAT WAY... A LOT. During the school year, when I took the younger girl to preschool, I got about 2 1/2 hours of free time, which is usually when I blogged. During the school year, when the younger girl took a nap for 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon, I got free time. During the school year, I spent almost all my time with the younger girl. I LIKED IT THAT WAY... A LOT.

Without going too much into it, I'll just say that the older girl takes a great deal of patience. That would be Capital P-A-T-I-E-Holy Hell, When Does School Start?-N-C-E. Basically, this summer, on two days of the week, by the time I get home, I do not have any patience left over to give my 2 1/2 year old son. I do not have any patience left over to give my 43 year old husband, either. I do not have patience left over to give other family members, friends, or the other people that stumble in and out of my life, (like landscapers - I'll get to that story at some point hopefully), just to frustrate me. It's been a rough summer.

I LOVE summer. No really. I'd make out with it, if I could. I would marry it, and force it to stay with me always. So the fact that I am actually wishing the summer away makes me a wee bit angry. Being angry with no patience is not a pretty combination.

That being said, there are a few things that have been going on around here that have made me VERY happy. One, after a few weeks of Dylan being a total, exhausting nut job, he seems to have turned a corner. He has been so sweet lately. I tell Dylan I love him A LOT. He never really answered me before. I mean I would repeat "I SAID I LOVE YOU!" at night before bed until the poor kid would finally mumble "I wuv you" in a slightly bored tone back at me. But one night recently, I was out with a friend for dinner, and I got home just as Jim was putting him to bed. I ran upstairs, and said, "I get to say good night to you!". He smiled the biggest smile and said, "Yay!" When I hugged him, I said, "I love you, Dylan". He looked right into my eyes, smiled, and answered, "And I love you, Mommy!" One of the top 10 best moments of my life, right there.

For some reason the last 45 or so minutes before bed, something great seems to happen. Jim and Dylan and I have our best moments of the day then. Some days we put on music and dance together. Sometimes each person puts on "a show", which consists of doing corny dance moves across the living room while the others clap and crack up laughing. Sometimes we bury each other with pillows and then crash through the pillows laughing. Sometimes we throw every ball in the house at each other, screaming "BALLS, BALLS, BALLS!!!" It doesn't matter what we do. It just has to be fun... and it is. Oh, it really is.

Today, I took Dylan to the dentist for the very first time. I was scared! How the heck were they going to get him to sit still long enough to clean his teeth? I pictured screaming, crying, and possibly sedation. Somehow, though, I must have hid my fears adequately, because this morning when I said we were going to the dentist, Dylan screamed, "This will be fun!" I've been reading a book, "Bugs Bunny Goes To The Dentist" for a couple weeks now, so maybe that helped? Anyway, it WAS fun! Fun?! At the dentist's?! My kid was amazing, and I got a little choked up, looking at him sitting there talking to the dentist about going to preschool soon. He is growing up so fast.