7.18.2008

It's All For Me

Calvin came bamming out of the bathroom yesterday afternoon with something on his mind. Both of my boys bam in and out of the bathroom - I have no idea why, but that is the only way to describe the door and lid and flush and door action that accompanies their toilet use...

Anyway, he bammed out of the bathroom and stopped short of me in the hallway and said, rather authoritatively but with a forced-casual wave of his hand:

"Mom, the reason we don't have a nanny and you don't go to work is because nannies cost a lot of money and because we love you and don't want you to have to go to some weird job somewhere."

I have no idea where this thought came from - our only discussions of nannies have been rare and almost exclusively between David and I alone, except for the houseguest telling me I should get one once we move to Kiev. I actually don't entertain the thought or converse about it much, mostly because (as I mentioned before) I'm not sure what I would do with myself while someone else watched over the children.

Cal does have lots of friends who have nannies, though, so maybe this came up in his mulling little mind because of that. I don't know. At any rate, "Because we love you and don't want you to have to go to some weird job somewhere" is probably the best thing I've ever heard.

It put a whole new spin on the situation for me, imagining Calvin and Henry and Charlie making the loving decision to sacrifice having a nanny so they could keep their mom safe and happy at home, and so she doesn't have to deal with any weirdness somewhere else.

I'm sure that someday I will thank them for it.

7 comments:

Gina said...

That is so dang sweet to hear from your own baby! I hope I can quit my weird job some day and my son likes it as much.

Katrina @ Callapidder Days said...

That's adorable! (Oh, and my 9-year-old still "bams" out of the bathroom.)

NOBODY said...

"deal with any weirdness somewhere else" made me lol.
Cuz, you definitely get plenty of weirdness at home, eh?

I love how Calvin's little mind works.

Unknown said...

That's funny. When Amanda was 4, we'd pass this daycare on the way to Bible study. It had a bright fun playground.

"I want to go there, Mommy."

"That's daycare, for people whose Mommies work all day. I stay home and take care of you, and you get to come to Bible study with me and play with your friends there."

"Why don't you get a job to work all day so I can go there?"

The even funnier thing is that there were never ever kids out on that fun fantastic playground.

Maybe that's an independent girl firstborn?? I know for a fact that my Momma-loving (and toilet bamming) boy would never want to get rid of me all day every day.

Janelle said...

My boys "bam" too!

When I was home on maternity leave my 4yo said almost everyday, "I just like being home" meaning he didn't have to go to childcare and he could be with me. It warms my heart to think of it again!

megachick said...

is there any job weirder than being a mom? seriously, the range of things we have to deal with ....
but very nice that your kids appreciate you. there's never enough of that.

Linda said...

Traci -
I got your blog from Helen's blog... your boys are adoreable! I just had my first boy... I'm waiting for the "Bamming" out of the bathroom...
I'd love to hear from you! Check out our blog at http://andrewloveslindastahr.blogspot.com...
Linda