Ok, so it’s great for mom to get away but there’s always the fallout.
I call it re-entry. Going away and leaving the kids behind is bliss — it’s even better when Dad stays home because you don’t necessarily have to leave the instructions and lists since, presumably, he knows what to do. But there’s always payback when you come home.
Initially it’s nice. The kids are so excited to see you. When I got home on Sunday after the trip to my reunion, there was the sweetest note taped to the front door. Each letter was individually cut out and it said “Welcome Home Mom.” They all greeted me with the biggest hugs and told me about their weekend. Dad even had them clean the house.
But before bed, Lilly, 8, started complaining of a stomach ache. It still hurt the next morning, even though she was able to eat breakfast and seemed fine when she wasn’t complaining. My friend, who also went on the trip, had the same illness in her house. Her daughter, 6, was hysterical the morning after she got home and could not be convinced to go to school. Jonah, my 4-year-old, was crankier than usual too.
I guess it all boils down to the fact that they love us, and they miss us when we go away. When we get back, they need extra attention — however they can get it.
How do your kids act when you get back from a trip?

As I mentioned last week, I went to my 20th college reunion this past weekend. I went with three girlfriends that I hadn’t seen in years. Two flew in from the West Coast, and we all drove down together.
I was actually dreading going because college wasn’t my best time in life. But I ended up having an amazing time. For two days and nearly two nights — we talked non stop. We reminisced, we laughed, we shared and best of all, we got a break from the demanding job of raising kids.
Somehow, I’d only remembered the bad parts of college — those that left me feeling less than proud  — and forgotten a lot of the good. Together we helped each other remember the fun times, and we groaned through the things we’ve tried to forget. We were amazed at how little we’d all changed but were also amazed at how much we’d all managed to accomplish.
Late Saturday night at a final reception, we fell into a deep conversation with a woman attending her 30th reunion. In the school’s dining hall with a band blaring in the background, she somehow managed to impress on us how important it is to work at your marriage even when you don’t feel like it, to love your children with all your heart and make sure they know that, and to surround yourself with girlfriends.
It’s amazing how one dreaded weekend away could have such an impact. It gave me the chance to relive the past and move on to the future with a new perspective.

Lately I’ve been wondering if my 4-year-old is an introvert or a snob.
When my other kids were 4, they were friendly. If we ran into someone we knew at the store — they would excitedly say hello; they made countless playmates on playgrounds and managed to be halfway decent on play dates.
But not so with Jonah. He can be friendly and has a number of friends — but he can also be aloof and sometimes downright mean. A classmate from Sunday School recently caught sight of him at a swim meet and excitedly called across the pool but Jonah barley glanced at him and refused to say hello. Another friend approached him at the library recently, but Jonah couldn’t be bothered to talk to him. When his best friend was over to play last weekend, he put on a scary mask and scared him out of the house. He later told me he did it on purpose.
My first thought was that he’s just one of those mean kids. It drove me crazy because I was often the butt of those kids’ jokes when I was little. I wore glasses and was far from “cool.”  But a friend told me the other day that her daughter had been similar when she was younger, and she thought maybe it was because she was shy.
I hadn’t really put it in that context before. Maybe he’s an introvert and not a snob. Maybe when friends he doesn’t know that well approach him, he feels timid. Maybe when he scared his friend off with the mask, he was just saying “I’ve played nicely for about as long as I can handle, and now I need a bit of alone time.”
I like that scenario a lot better than the snob one. I sure hope that’s the case.

The best thing in the world is to hear your children laugh. And sometimes the simplest things make kids laugh. My husband stumbled upon a video the other night on YouTube that had my kids in hysterics. Check it out. It was a called the sneezing baby panda and they watched it over and over. It even had me giggling off and on the rest of the night — a pretty powerful thing for a tired and cranky mom. Show it to your kids and see what happens.

Do you ever think you might qualify for the world’s worst mom?
The other day I was throwing a lacrosse ball at our new pitch back when my youngest sat down on the edge of the driveway right behind it. I told him he better move because I’d been missing a lot. He didn’t move, and I didn’t insist. Next thing you know, I missed and beaned him right in the face. Ouch.
That got me to thinking of some of the really dumb things I’ve done as a mom over the years. Like the time Maggie was a toddler and I was following her down the steps. I stepped down a little too close (probably in a rush) and knocked her over, causing her to fall down half a flight of stairs. Oops was an understatement.
Then last summer we were out on a bike ride, and I stopped to look at something. Jonah was in the seat on the back of my bike and instead of getting him down, I asked Maggie — then 9 — to hold the bike for me. I knew it was a bad idea, but I did it anyway. I got halfway to what I wanted to see and heard the crash. The bike fell over with Jonah in the seat and pulled poor Maggie down with it. A good example of ignoring my mother’s intuition.
This one tops the list. When Jonah was just about 15 months, I was finishing up doing the dishes after dinner. The kids were antsy to go outside, so I asked Maggie, 7 at the time, to keep an eye on Jonah for a few minutes until I could come out. When I got outside, Maggie was inline to use the swing and there was no sign of Jonah. After a frantic 5-second search, I caught sight of him pushing his little bike down the middle of the street. Though I wanted to yell at Maggie for not watching him, it was me that needed the scolding. My 7-year-old was obviously not ready for the responsibility I entrusted her with.
Luckily my kids have survived the past 10 years. They obviously have very capable — and busy — guardian angels. What tops your list of stupid parent tricks?

My guest blogger today is my co-editor, Cheryl Clemens:

If you have a child, odds are he or she is in, just finished or is about to enter poop-obsessed phase. They talk about it. They laugh about it. They seem able to tap into some aspect of natural life that we, as adults, long ago left behind (although I guess when we become senior citizens, the fascination starts up again).

Here’s a quick and easy read on, you guessed it - poop - from yesterday’s Kids Page in The Washington Post. You’ll hear more than one, “Eeeewwwww!” while they are reading, but deep down inside, they’ll love every word.

My 4-year-old started calling me Grandma recently.
I have no idea why he’s calling me that, but it makes me crazy.
I don’t think it would bother me so much if I wasn’t already a good 10 years older than most of the parents with kids in his preschool class. And while I’ve always taken a stand on not dyeing my hair, it’s suddenly gone from graying to mostly gray. And this weekend I’m going to my 20th college reunion — I was in college more than half my life ago! To top it off, my mom turned 80 last week.
So I’m feeling a little old.
The last thing I need is my baby calling me Grandma. That’s the final wrinkle. Maybe what I need is a good dye job and some Botox.

Yesterday my kids were off from school for a teacher professional day so my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop scheduled a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Sometimes the crowds at attractions like the aquarium keep me away. But yesterday was a different story. There were surprisingly few people there and we could see every exhibit. It made all the difference in the world.
During lunch in the nearly empty cafeteria, we debated the lack of crowds and hit on the reason — private schools were on spring break and public schools had the MSA test.
I made a mental note of this for next year. It’s not a big help for parents of public school kids, but for those with toddlers, preschoolers and home schooled kids — it’s a great time to visit not only the aquarium, but also the Maryland Science Center, Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Port Discovery Children’s Museum or any other normally crowded attraction.
In a similar vain, I’ve found that the fall is the best time to visit the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. Zoo field trips are usually scheduled in the spring, which leaves the place nearly empty on a beautiful fall weekday. A friend of mine always hit’s the Maryland Science Center the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, again because no school schedules a field trip that day.
Does anyone out there have any other tips for visiting Baltimore’s popular attractions? If you do, we’d love to hear about it!

Today’s guest blogger is my co-editor, Cheryl Clemens:

Sometimes I look at my children and other members of their generation and ask myself, “These are the people who are going to be feeding me pudding when I’m in a nursing home? They can’t even leave the house with socks that match!”

Then there are days like yesterday, when I got an e-mail from my 13-year-old daughter with this YouTube link. It’s less than two minutes and believe me, it will restore your faith in the younger generation. Just make sure you watch the whole thing.

In my daughter’s words, “This is so cool …”