repeat after me
While we were at the beach on our recent relocation (as in ‘not a vacation, but a relocation,’ a term I picked up from a mother of twins), I (the triplet mom) was introduced briefly to my friend’s Aunt Melissa, who happened to be staying nearby. She said to me, “You must be really tired.”
“You can say that again.” I said. And I went on to tell her the story of how just the day before I had been sitting on the beach with my trio and my niece who is the same age as they are.
My niece said, “Aunt Kim, do you want to play paddle ball?”
I may have been imagining it, but it seemed like the question stopped my three girls in their tracks. Cinderella, who up until that point had been quietly building sandcastles, answered for me, “No, my mommy is tired. You’re tired, right, Mommy?”
The thing is that, whereas my niece was an experienced paddle baller, my girls had never really played the game before—especially not on the beach, and it would be fun for them. I felt so bad that they had not even thought of asking me themselves that I got up and played paddle ball, complete with the requisite dives into the sand as well as the appropriate interventions when fighting ensued over whose turn it was, for what seemed like an hour with the four almost-five year olds.
Aunt Melissa shrugged in response to my story, saying something like “if playing paddle ball is the worst thing that you don’t do because you’re tired, it’ll be a miracle.”
And then, she went on to explain something I have been trying to articulate for nearly five years, “You're tired because you have to do everything three times.”
That’s it exactly, I thought as I remembered how I had taken the time that afternoon to show each of my girls one by one with the same level of enthusiasm and patience and interest how to hold the paddle and hit the ball. Doing three different things is hard, but it is the repetition of the same activity (insert discussion or comforting session or explanation or peptalk…etc.) three times that for me is indeed exhausting.
And then we were off to try putt-putt.
“You can say that again.” I said. And I went on to tell her the story of how just the day before I had been sitting on the beach with my trio and my niece who is the same age as they are.
My niece said, “Aunt Kim, do you want to play paddle ball?”
I may have been imagining it, but it seemed like the question stopped my three girls in their tracks. Cinderella, who up until that point had been quietly building sandcastles, answered for me, “No, my mommy is tired. You’re tired, right, Mommy?”
The thing is that, whereas my niece was an experienced paddle baller, my girls had never really played the game before—especially not on the beach, and it would be fun for them. I felt so bad that they had not even thought of asking me themselves that I got up and played paddle ball, complete with the requisite dives into the sand as well as the appropriate interventions when fighting ensued over whose turn it was, for what seemed like an hour with the four almost-five year olds.
Aunt Melissa shrugged in response to my story, saying something like “if playing paddle ball is the worst thing that you don’t do because you’re tired, it’ll be a miracle.”
And then, she went on to explain something I have been trying to articulate for nearly five years, “You're tired because you have to do everything three times.”
That’s it exactly, I thought as I remembered how I had taken the time that afternoon to show each of my girls one by one with the same level of enthusiasm and patience and interest how to hold the paddle and hit the ball. Doing three different things is hard, but it is the repetition of the same activity (insert discussion or comforting session or explanation or peptalk…etc.) three times that for me is indeed exhausting.
And then we were off to try putt-putt.
posted by kim at 9:32 AM
1 Comments:
I swear I don't know how you do it. Doing everything twice is enough to send me over the edge some days.
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