Ding-a-ling

Well, all the children are officially out of school for the summer. Since we designated June as a “no TV or video game” month, I am eagerly (read: wincingly) awaiting the inevitable “I’m bored!” and the fighting.
Oldest Child finished school yesterday and immediately went on a sleep-over with her best friend, Lisa (names have been changed to protect the innocent).
Last night Husband and I, my parents, and the children remaining at home went to watch the elementary school’s production of Sadoko and the 1000 Paper Cranes. Child Two and Child Three have been practicing for weeks with the Chimes Club and performed the music for the production, which went as well as an elementary school play can go, i.e. mumbled lines, lines spoken too quickly and a sound system that didn’t allow for any actual hearing. What I got from the play was sketchy, at best, but what I really enjoyed was hearing my children play the chimes. The club played a complicated Japanese melody called “A Boat on the Lake,” and for a bunch of third, fourth, and fifth graders, it sounded good enough to be performed in other venues.
After the play we got to look at the chimes. They are hollow, square metal tubes with a handle on one end. When the player flicks her wrist, a hinged, padded knocker strikes the tube, and then the player stops the resonation by gently placing the end of the tube against her shoulder or chest. They sound like hand bells but are apparently a lot less expensive.
Child Six, the baby of nearly 10 months, was up all night, it seemed. Around 2:30 in the morning I woke Husband up by shining my key light and shuffling around next to my side of the bed looking for the saline nose spray, which Child Six had previously managed to thoroughly lose. His wee nose was all stuffed up and he hates that. I didn’t find the nose spray, but eventually Six calmed down and fell back asleep. It’s been a while since I slept more than an hour at a time. If it isn’t one kid, it’s another. I just tell myself I’m on active duty 12 hours a day and on-call the other 12. Boy, do they call sometimes. “Mom. Mom! MOOOOM!!” Nightmares (especially when we have to use the albuterol for asthma attacks), wet beds, drinks of water, you name it. I wish I could say I’m a patient parent all through the night, but I’m not. They aren’t always reasonable children, and I get less patient the more tired I am. Have you ever watched the PBS cartoon, Caillou, and noticed how constantly patient, understanding and long-suffering the parents are? They never raise their voices, they always have time to indulge in Caillou’s whims, and they apparently never need Rosy and Caillou to just leave them alone for five minutes, quit fighting, and quit tattling on each other. I am not like that.