Because I'm the Mom

child: But why do I have to go to bed and you get to stay up?   
me: Because I'm the mom.  I am <insert any task that needs to be done> and I need you to go to bed.
child: But why do you get to decide where we go?  
me: Because I'm the mom.
child:  But why do you care what happens?
me:  Because I'm the mom.

Tonight at supper my husband said something goofy and our youngest daughter said, "You really are Mom's 6th kid." with a dry, matter-of-fact humor.  Yes, I am technically the mom to 5 minors plus 1 adult male.  It's a crazy, fulfilling, exhausting life.  I routinely try to not pull my hair out at some of the things that happen or laugh when a child unknowingly says something funny.  I think that while we cherish the sweet things, we truly grow through the rough patches.  We are working through one of those with our son.  He did not have the best start with his birth family and bounced through foster care so he has some behavioral issues.  Lately we can have some great days but he struggles to go to sleep.  It is when he becomes irrational that my sense of humor can be my survival guide.  The past few nights he has tried a variety of things to not go to sleep (and I am grateful that once he is asleep, he stays asleep - we didn't always have that blessing.)  He will insist on needing to go to the bathroom again, complain about his blankets, but then he will get frustrated and say "I really just want to shave my legs."  Just to clarify, he has never shaved his legs or had them shaved for him.  My husband fights with his facial hair enough that he would never have time to shave his own legs, so this is where we completely know that he is making a last ditch effort to avoid sleep. My random mind goes to the country song that says did I shave my legs for this? which is the wrong reference, yet I sit in my home trying to cling to sanity while he says he wants to shave his legs.

All of the four girls have also had their moments of meltdown and just funny phrases.  Having our oldest fall apart over a toy that she wanted when she was in preschool resulted in me saying that she would not get the toy and she needed to deal with it.  She cried out I am dealing with it!  Since then it is synonymous with how we don't always make the right choices.  Our next daughter wanted to ride at an amusement park but thought that they should stop the right after one 360 degree rotation.  I done! would come from her mouth.  She wasn't panicked.  She just said it emphatically.  Our oldest red head delights people with her uncanny ability to make animal sounds and other noises.  She is a virtual sound machine.  The youngest red head will say things that are completely twisted around.  When she had long hair and needed to brush the back of it she would say I'm brushing my back hair.  She's also allergic to strawberries but was a strawberry blonde in preschool.  She would inform people who called her a strawberry blond that I'm allergic to strawberries; I'm a cranberry blonde. 

So in my mom journals, I will add I really just need to shave my legs to the list.  Oh, and for the oldest kid/husband?  My favorite is from our early years as husband and wife.  He misunderstood something I said and became very annoyed.  I was confused and tried to find out what on earth he was upset about.  He thought I was not understanding the depth of whatever he had thought I had done.  I finally clarified what I had said and he looked at me dumbfounded and said well, I'm an idiot. 

And why do I get to sit back as the kids go to sleep and cherish some of this crazy?  Because I'm the mom.