70% Dead, Fort, Rappin' Ry

I get it.  Parenting isn’t always glamorous.  And kids are great at keeping your ego down.  Like way down.  Like if I were looking at a puddle of quicksand, my self-esteem would have been swallowed up by the quicksand and my self-esteem would just be yelling “help” until it is finally sucked all the way under the sand.  Never to be heard from again.  Also, elementary-aged Jayme thought that quicksand would play a larger role in her everyday life.  Who would have known that it would play no role in my life, other than to swallow up my self-esteem.     

At the end of the school year, Chase got to invite his family into his school for a tour and to show us all of his art projects he had made throughout the year.  Chase goes to the same school that I went to in elementary school. I was feeling a bit nostalgic as we reached the landing of the stairs in-between the top floor of the school and the main level.  I stopped there and told Chase that when I was in his school, we got to create a giant box fort on the landing. We all got to work together to build it, color it and then read in it during reading time.  Chase waited patiently until I was done with my story and replied matter-of-factually, “You should have spent more time in math class and less time in the fort.”     

Also, the other morning as I was driving Chase to my parent’s house to play, I was yawning.  A lot.  I’m pretty sure I was so tired that my yawn was yawning.  Chase asked me if grown-up are always tired.  And I told him yes.  I believe my exact quote was, “Being an adult just means that you get tired, then more tired, and then more tired until you eventually die.”  Then Chase responded, “On a death scale, you must already be a 7/10.”  Then I replied with a quiet, “Probably.” And that was the whole conversation.  My child thinks I am already 70% dead.  I must really be looking on-fleek these days. (Yes, I did have to look up how to spell fleek to make sure I was spelling the new, hip word correctly. Also, is hip still a hip word to use?) 

So, in other words, parenting has been pretty soul crushing for me recently.  

Introducing Rappin' Ry sporting his favorite outfit.  Yes, he is wearing a hat that has the name "Austin" written on the inside bill.  And yes, he is wearing jeans that he bedazzled. (Thanks, Grandma Jan. Cory was happy to see you helped Ryder bedazzle.)