The Mommy hour

As a stay-at-home mom, the kids, understandably, spend a lot of time with me. With the exception of the three hours a day Austin is in school, most days the kids are with me, and only me, from the time they wake up (around 7:30 a.m.) until the time Ryan gets home (around 6 p.m.).

That's 10 to 11 hours a day of mommy time.

Our days and weeks are filled. We go to fun places (like the Science Centre or the Zoo), we go to easy-to-get-to places (like the library down the street), we have play dates, we play outside, we do crafts, we play with toys and they watch a little TV in the late afternoon -- after Alex wakes up from her nap -- while I get dinner ready (or just need time to vege out or need to finish some work for a client).

Needless to say, they are rarely bored. And when daddy gets home, they're always super excited to see him and tell him about their day.

And then we all sit down to dinner together. This is often followed by Ryan going off to play with the kids after dinner, leaving me to clean up. It may sound like I get the short end of the stick, having to clean up after having made dinner too, but actually, I like it. Ryan taking the kids away to play means I get a little peace and quiet after 10 hours of non-stop kids. And even though that peace and quiet comes with doing the dishes, it's still quiet (more or less).

That's how a typical weekday goes in our house. Ten to 11 hours of mommy followed by family time followed by 45 minutes to an hour of daddy time.

So, you would think after spending 10 to 11 hours with mommy that both kids would have had enough of me by 7:30 p.m., goodness knows, some days I've had enough of them by that time. But no.

Come 7:30 (or so) when we announce that it's time to start getting ready for bed, they both instantly turn into mommy sucks and the jockeying for position starts.

"Mommy put my jammies on." "No, mommy put my jammies on." "Mommy brush my teeth." "No, mommy brush MY teeth." "Mommy read books" "Mommy put me to bed." "No, mommy put ME to bed."

It's the same thing every single night. Regardless of whether I was away all day or home all day.

Now don't get me wrong, it's great to be wanted by your children -- because goodness knows in about 10 years they may not want anything to do with me. But honestly, every single night. Don't they know that daddy is perfectly capable and willing to do some of those things too?

For the record, we often put our foot down and Ryan will step in and say "No, daddy is reading the book tonight" or "No, daddy will put you to bed and then mommy will come in and give you a kiss".

But that often just starts them bantering for what mommy gets to do tomorrow night.