5-3: It's hard being the smelly kid

Everyone has had an experience with "the smelly kid". You either had to sit next to him in school or got stuck near him on the bus or had to be his partner in gym class. Well, I'm sad to say that I'm now the smelly kid. I can't help it! Two minutes after I leave my house at the top of the hill in my neighborhood I'm dripping sweat off of my forehead and down my chest and any hope I had of arriving at my destination fresh and clean is gone. Then there's running to catch the bus with my two-year-old on my back and clearly I'm hopeless. And this is just round one - we still have to get back to school for pick-up! Corey will be content to skip my greeting tonight until AFTER my shower!

My kids are starting to catch onto this as well. We're having to remind them frequently to keep their hands out of their mouths because - let's face it - they're touching A LOT of surfaces these days! On the bus today after dropping my oldest at school, my two-year-old (who still sucks his thumb at bed time) was getting sleepy and went for his thumb. I intercepted this and told him to wait until we washed his hands at home. As we waked upstairs to his bedroom he asked, "Mommy can I taste my fingers now?" So, we're smelly and dirty. . .anyone still want to be friends???

We all knew this challenge wouldn't be all sunny days, beautiful-smelling flowers and happy jaunts to and fro. I have to admit that I was feeling pretty lucky this morning to have had such pleasant experiences thus far. But we all reach a point when we get really, really tired. . .and crabby. I was hoping this point wouldn't be on day three, but what can we do? Sleep more, I guess! Today was tough for me. After the last two days covering a total of 23 miles on the bike I was exhausted today after dropping L off at school. My legs are like jelly and I don't get a break until Friday. The kids are tired too. I can just tell by the way they're dragging their feet and arguing and picking up cigarette butts at the bus stop despite my requests to stop. We're all hitting the sack early tonight to make for a better day tomorrow - after a nice, hot shower!