Wish us luck...

Tonight, D & I look after our nieces and nephew for an entire evening. Doesn't sound so hard, but this is the situation:

- 1 six year old girl (going on 16) who is grounded for various reasons and who only wants to wear her headphones and listen to Justin Beiber, making sure we know it's up to *her* when she wants to go to bed

- 1 five year old girl who riles up her brother to the point where he's unstoppable and who talks like she's the last person on earth

- 1 three year old boy who is riled up and does not come down, no matter how much you run him out... he's like the energizer bunny with a gruff old-man voice

- 1 six-month-old niece, who is a total mama's girl, who cries when she leaves her mom's arms. Awesome.

I love these kids, but this'll be a good test!

Trick or Treat

This year on Halloween night, D and I will be taking our nephews and nieces trick or treating... it's one of my favourite days of the year. Not only do I get to take my amazing little ones out, but I too get to go in costume - without even dressing up - I get to pretend that I'm their mom.

[photo credit]

People open their doors to my polite and adorable nieces and nephews, who look up at them with their  excited smiles, take their gifts and thank them profusely, and I stand back and hold a position of "oh yeah, they're mine" intense sense of pride. It's one of the best feelings in the world.

Probably not the healthiest thing, but fuck it - I may never get to take my own kid out, and the pride I hold knowing that these kids share just even a smidgen of their blood with me makes me feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

I may not be a mom right now, and I may not be a mom for a while, who knows. And then there is the other possibility, but I'm not going to write that today.  So, we all need to dress up some time, put on a mask and as adults, we really just have this one day a year where it's acceptable, so yeah - they will be my kids on Sunday. Their smiles, their eyes, their manners, their excitement, their energy, their love... it all comes from me.

Except if they misbehave ;-)