Parenting lessons

I am being unusually lazy today, even for me. It's freezing, and I have a headache, and there's nothing I have to do, so I'm opting to do nothing. I love doing nothing sometimes. I'll be busy enough in a month, when school starts back up for me (both teaching and taking classes), so I can rationalize soaking up the sloth now. Not that I can't always justify it, it's just easier right now.

Sadly, my 4 year old did not get the Mommy-gets-to-do-nothing-today memo. He wants me to play inane autistic games involving wood block armies and tinkertoy ship building - all well and good for brief periods of time, but unsustainable as all-day activity to a fully functioning brain. Hush, my brain is TOO fully functioning. So, I resorted to sort of just ignoring him (muttering "uh-huh" at intervals) and hoping he'd find an imaginary friend to play with instead. When this strategy backfired (he just got closer and closer to my face, asking questions like "you don't want to mess wif a fairy, right?"), I reached for that old parenting-excellence mainstay, the remote control.

Alas, I could not find it. Rather than channel (get it, channel?) my irritated energy into interacting with the boy, I spent the next 10 minutes tearing up the living room, finally emerging triumphant with my prize from under the couch. So now, there is peace in our time. I love the Backyardigans.

And there's today's parenting lesson, from me to you: never lose the remote.