How I give to the needy

Rob and Camden had a father/son day at Sea World yesterday [LSS: Rob got a ½ price ticket from his Budweiser distributor at the restaurant. I didn’t want to go because tix are so expensive, so I opted to stay home with Palmer so Rob and Camden (he’s free anyway) could have a day together.]

After they got home and Camden was ready for bed (Palmer was already asleep), we were relaxing on the couch while Rob was in the shower. I was giving Camden a little foot rub as I often do before bed to help him relax. As he was telling me all about the sharks and their big teeth, he paused to instruct me on his preferred foot rubbing technique: “No Mommy, push harder… squish my toes…use two hands.”

Seriously, where does he come up with this stuff?

Shortly thereafter, Camden was in bed and Rob was filling me in on the details of the day. He paused for a moment with a simple request, “Hey Babe? Will you rub my feet?”

Of course I obliged, knowing how he had been doing a lot of walking all day from the Shamu show to the Penguin display to the Dolphin pool, while I was at home relaxing – doing laundry, dishes, vacuuming, cleaning the shower, did I mention laundry?

“Make sure you get in there and get the toes,” he said.

I started laughing. “Like father, like son,” I said, and told Rob about my earlier conversation with Camden. “You guys are so demanding.”

“We’re not demanding,” he countered, “we’re just needy.”

“Why are you so needy?”

“Because we’re men.”

Not sure where the conversation went from there, because all I could hear was the hammer hitting the nail on the head. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he had actually read my blog.

I forgot...men are not moms

I’ve done several posts about the kids, and one post about my work life, but no posts about being a wife. Ah, how closely the blog mirrors real life. I suppose I wouldn’t even be a mom if I hadn’t been a wife first (at least in my book that’s the way it goes), but sometimes it’s hard to remember I’ve got wifely duties, too. Rob reminded me of this recently. He’s been feeling neglected lately, and I can understand why. On the priority list of my life, he falls almost as close to the bottom as I do. I think it goes like this.

1. The Kids
2. The House
3. The Kids
4. Work
5. The Kids
6. Rob
7. Me

Okay, maybe the dog comes after me, but that’s about it. So anyway, back to Rob feeling neglected…He actually said to me the other day, “You know, you are a great mother and housekeeper, and work hard at your job, but sometimes I think you forget how to be a wife.” Luckily I am becoming more skilled at translating man-speak, so I did not get offended. I know what he was really meant was “I’m a man, not a mom, so I need you to dote on me every second of the day so I feel loved and appreciated.” So, I added to my to-do list, more hugs and kisses and ‘atta boys for Rob. I think I can work that in somewhere between poopy diaper changes. And just maybe, there will be a future post about being a wife.