putting the 'rat' in bratty

I was going to post about our wonderful trip down south, but first I must pause to tell you about what grade-A brats my children are after returning from a visit with grandparents. It isn't as though the grandparents don't realize what they are doing; in fact, I detect a note of freshman hazing in the glint in their eyes and the smile creeping up in their mouths as we open yet another gift.

To be clear, I fully enjoy the grandiose amount of spoiling my kids receive. The more who love them, the merrier. But I do not love the military-style retraining that must happen upon reentry into life as we know it. We sometimes go weeks without a timeout in normal life, and today we've had three. In the last two hours.

Sigh.

My one source of much-appreciated relief has come this evening via a screening of Wall-E, with kid #1 giggling uncontrollably and #2 watching slack-jawed from behind the snuggling clutch of a giant stuffed yellow ducky. Meanwhile, Nate has taken refuge with a friend to a local pub. All I'm saying is, they are lucky they're cute. That's my constant refrain of the last three years. Do you have one too?

Signing off from mommy boot camp,
J