Little Nuances

I've spent the last few days doing the single mom gig. The husband is away on business and I've been dreading him leaving. It really has nothing to do with the daytime, as I'm solo with that daily anyway. It's all about the 6:30-8:30 time when we usually have him around.

Bedtime is no easy task with two littles. It can be done, but one of them is likely crying in the process. As a wee baby, Benjamin had what we call the witching hour that was more like 2-3 hours of fussiness and some crying before bedtime. It's when he was alert and obviously tired. Well, Claire is no different. She's a pretty agreeable baby for the most part, but the witching hour(s) can really exhaust a person.

I was thinking to myself during a nursing session at 2:30 a.m. about the little things we say. My husband had written me an email and expressed how wild it was being able to type "kids" at all. I sat there in thought about how parents speak of their experiences. Sort of having a silent conversation with myself (you know, because when your husband is out of town, you get little adult chit-chat) about how both of my children had that wild witching hour each night.

And how crazy it would be to say all or none instead of both. When you have two kids, the pronoun fits the number as a pair. Words like neither and both are used. Always and only two kids being referred to here. When you have three or more children, the pronoun changes, yet remains the same for three... or millions.

While incredibly awesome it's been to say kids and both, that all or none would be totally awesome-r.

Fun little anecdote: Since I went all teacher on you in this post, I have to mention that one of the most difficult adjectives for kids in elementary school to spell is awesome. They would always leave out the first e for some reason. Compound word, too. Just to geek this up a little more. Awe + some. It's awesome because it has some awe factor to it.