raising Nerdlings

First, I just put the kiddos to bed and i have to mention this. As they go to sleep they listen to CDs with stories, some recorded by grandparents, some professional storybooks and some history of the world CDs which are super cool and interesting. So they usually have a request. Tonight Billie wants "Cincinattus" and I don't even know what that's about so I have to check the indexes on the CD booklet things and I'm asking "Do you mean Constantine? Or Stilicho? Siddartha?" "no, Mom...it's when Caesar...Julius, not Augustus, Caesar gave the power back to the Senate. I want THAT one." She's FIVE.
So, mostly I just wanted to blog that it's SO HARD being a single Mom. I didn't think it would be such a big deal but now that Bill is going i have to give him such major props because i'm so grumpy and not as good of a mom as i am when he's here. And how on earth do people even do this without two parents?!
Today I'm out in the rain with 3 kiddies (we picked up an extra) ages 5, 3, and 3. And Sloane, in the sling (as always). We go to Toys R' Us and it's RAINING. What a day!
But let me back up because we don't usually go to Toys R Us. Tragedy brought us there. Jackson's most beloved mouse, Rizzo was no where to be found! After days of searching through the house and van clutter there was still no sign of him and my sweet boy was SO sad. Here I was at a COMPLETE loss. Usually I'm clever and come up with interesting fantasies (some people call them lies but I prefer the term fantasies because it's an excercise in imagination) to distract kids when there's a problem. "Maybe Rizzo went to visit his Rizzo family and he's there in the meadow with all the Rizzos having a picnic" but Jackson wanted his Rizzo and he was weeping. I had nothing to offer! me: "Why don't you just watch a video and snuggle up with this replacement toy?" Here's a first it's 9pm- an hour past bedtime and I just let a kid get up and watch a video!!! I was desperate. I called Bill. Jackson talked to Bill who, it 'turns out', Rizzo had decided to visit. Rizzo and Jackson talked on the phone with Jackson giggling and telling Rizzo to come home and eventually telling Rizzo to put Daddy back on the phone. He was still sad that Rizzo was not here but happy to know where he was. Bill went out and made a purchase the next day and we got to Skype Rizzo today and see that he really is there at Nanna's with Daddy so that all worked out well. In the meantime it's still hard to go to sleep at night so I told Jackson he could pick out any toy in the store. He came home with a new light-saber today.
We can't wait for Rizzo and Daddy to get back here!