Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Is there a vaccine for this?

The calendar turned to August, and with it came what I like to call the Late Summer Blues. First of all, it's (still!) HOTTTTT. And humid. I imagine that if Weather was a family, Hot and Humid would be the unpopular uncles that no one ever wanted to invite to reunions because they make everyone cranky and uncomfortable. (Not to mention sweaty.) And every year by this time, I'm so over the heat. Some days the kids and I can't even muster enthusiasm to go to the pool ('cuz, you know, pulling on that swimsuit is such a drag! and dredging up your towel from the laundry pile? fuhgeddaboutit!) When the Energizer Bunny Boys can't run amok outside for more than 15 minutes without wilting, it's gotta be a critical case of LSB.

Naturally, since they can't expend their adrenaline on outdoor pursuits, they get creative inside the air-conditioned house. This leads to an exponential increase in such pursuits as: WWF-style wrestling, tackle-Nerf-basketball, foam-sword-fencing matches, and full-contact soccer. Each of these somehow involves a degree of shouting and floor-pounding that literally shakes the house, making it seem as though 2 boys will soon come crashing through whatever level they're currently playing on, possibly directly onto your head.

The thrilling action in these various Death-Cage Matches is frequently halted by periods of passionate argument such as: "stop throwing so hard!"; "that was not a goal!" or the ever-popular "that's it, I QUIT...and I'm never playing with you again!" (actually, these are all Riley; Derek just shrugs and says, "okay, whatever"...which infuriates Riley all the more so that he stomps out of the vicinity, muttering to himself about the most horrible brother ever, blah, blah, blah...) At this point in the Summer, I refuse to referee anymore, so they separate themselves--kind of like a timeout in the Westman Boys Penalty Box--and next time I turn around, they've completely forgotten the fight and moved on to another game. Sigh. Boys.

I never would have thought I'd say this, but too much free time...in close proximity to each other...seems to be wearing us down! However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel (besides that train I've been praying for, to come spirit me away)! August also means that we can count the days until school starts again. And Derek has such as serious case of LSB that he actually said to me the other day, "I'm kind of ready to go back to school." So in the time remaining to us we need to make sure we: eat a lot more watermelon and ice cream, enjoy cooling off at the swimming pool, visit a few more interesting places, sleep in as much as possible, and take full advantage of our long, lazy, unstructured Summer days before they're all used up for another year. Tomorrow's agenda: all of the above, and of course keep the brothers from killing each other. Mid-August, here we come!

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