I felt much better venting the other day in the "in-laws" thread...

on Friday, I went to Ikea and a big-box Toys R Us in Elizabeth, NJ with one of my "girlfriends" (my wife calls my playdate moms "girlfriends"). My oldest was at school, so it was Jen & her nearly 3 y/o son Ben and 6 m/o Sam and my just-turned 3 y/o son Sam. Please don't mix up the boy Sam(uel) and girl Sam(antha)!

You have all been to an Ikea, yes? So the 3 year olds were running around, opening every cabinet, drawer and hopping into every chair & bed they could find. It was fine because the store was mostly empty at the time. I was keeping up with them, reigning them in (much like herding cats) when necessary and encouraging bad behavior when possible :-) I treated her Ben like my own and we all had a blast.

When we finally slowed down for lunch at the cafe, she says to me, "You are so awesome. I can't believe you do this 7-days a week. Without my time in the office, I would go insane, I simply could not do this." (Jen works 3 days/week as an accountant or similar)

So in-laws aside, spouses that sometimes don't get that simply keeping everyone ER-free for a day is quite the accomplishment. That one can actually spend 3 hours on the phone getting an errant credit card charge removed from your account or that finding that Christmas present really did entail taking both kids, in sub-zero wind-chills to 6 different stores over 100+ miles of driving and yes, I never did get anything to eat for dinner tonight...

That all that stuff aside, it's so nice to know that there are some people who recognize what we do is pretty awesome!

Long ago I had to decide that we made the decision "for the kids" and that except those days when I hear 'I don't love you, I love mommy' (yeah, but I just disciplined you and mommy is at work or she would have done same you little...) - that I do this for the kids and can't wait for or rely on other people for my job satisfaction...

Don't get me wrong, my wife is incredibly supportive and loves what I do with and for the kids. Just in light of our in-laws not supporting us, it's nice to have peers that support and encourage what we do!

Writing from Philly today,
PittCaleb