Tales from the Steppes

2006-03-23

8:30 a.m.
Thursday, March 23

Half of the time we're gone but we don't know where
And we don't know where
- Simon and Garfunkel

The mongols truly earned their nicknames yesterday. In the five minutes between the younger set getting home and the babysitter's arrival, there was an altercation between the EM and MM that resulted in the EM having several scratches and the MM getting bitten. When I arrived home less than an hour later to grab the EM for ballet, after getting several phone calls at work, I spoke with all three quite sternly. But the MM and YM continued to behave horridly for the babysitter, causing multiple phone calls to both the SU and I. The MM campaigned to get the babysitter fired and then told me he had quit. I was too far to drive back in rush hour traffic but it was time for the SU to go home anyway. Apparently, things were not quite as bad as we were led to believe - the babysitter did not quit. But there will be no electronics of any kind for any mongol for the rest of the week and the younger two had to sit at the table writing "I will obey the babysitter" for more than an hour, 100 times for the MM and 20 for the YM. And this means I have to leave work every day before 3:45 to make sure I am home when the bus gets there because apparently 5 minutes is too long for them to be left alone.

I can remember that before I had kids, I always said it would suck to have boring children. This was not what I had in mind. Sigh.