play dates drive me crrrrazy

So I walked into school talking to my friend on the phone and quickly realised that wasn't going to fly, because when school is out, school is loud. I said a quick goodbye and started looking around for my familiar little blonde heads when I realised that, even though the boys were at home napping like always, nothing new, I had forgotten about one small change to my routine: Elliot was asleep in Max' room - the room with the lock on it - and Max was napping in the girl's room - no lock. No lock. Uh oh. I think we have pretty much established I'm an idiot sometimes, I make no excuses. Don't worry everything was fine when I got home, he was still fast asleep in Lara's bed, and I have learned my lesson. It did make me oddly happy though when, while still at school, I was reminded that parents of 2 or less children also have their idiotic moments. Maybe idiotic is a bit harsh, let's call them 'quirky'.

Par exemple: Mother of 2 girls (6 and 8 or 9 years of age) follows both our youngest daughters over to me. The girls desperately want a playdate straight after school and things need arranging. Now, when I became a mother I told myself that my house would be the house where the doors would always be open for friends. It would be a constant, cosy buzzing of bubbling laughter and child's play. I know, I was an even bigger idiot back then. But I still let them have friends over pretty much whenever they want, unless someone has an infectuous disease or something, and so my immediate response was a smile and an 'Of course!'. Then she said the following to me. Me, the one with the crusty snot on my shoulder and Hello Kitty hairclip because that was all I could find while searching coat pockets and purses for my car keys when I was supposed to be halfway to school 10 minutes ago. She said 'Do you mind if they play over at your place today, because my oldest already has a friend coming over and if Julia came too, things would just get a little too crazy'. I did not take this as a personal reflection on my Julia who is not a rowdy child. I took this as a reflection on the fact that taking Julia home with her would mean 4 children instead of 2 in her home. This woman knows I have 4 children of my own. She knows that her daughter would mean a 5th child, and yet that did not cross her mind as possibly a little 'crazy' for me. My sanity is not an issue and you know what? I can't really say I blame her. I mean really, having 4 kids of your own is the crazy bit, now isn't it? But when she comes over to pick her daughter up, you had better believe that I am showing her the havoc those girls wreaked in Julia's room, and the trail of soggy TP her daughter left all over my living room during a moment of 'craziness' while I was upstairs changing Elliot's diaper. Yeah, she'll never let her daughter play here again after she sees what crazy really means. MuahahaaaaahahahaHAHAHAHAAAAA!