The Learning Curve

There are some things you you can't prepare yourself for. 

There are situations you just have to deal with the best you can on the spot.  There are things that make you realize your life will never be the same again.  There are things you miss, and there are things you never thought you'd appreciate.

Taking care of a child is the biggest one.

We know we're new to all this, but here are eleven things we've learned very quickly, in no particular order:

• Half a Pizza Hut P'Zone and a salad does not a meal make for a 9-yr-old.
• "Sharing" is a relative term.
• Schedule?  What schedule??
• Laundry: it's not just for the weekend anymore!
• Whoever invented OxyClean and Shout deserve a Nobel Prize.
• 7:00 am IS sleeping in.
• The desire to spend someone else's money is inversely proportional to the amount of money that someone else actually has to spend.
• We now know why people wipe off the chairs after a meal.
• Packing for a trip out of town is a whole new experience.
• Mike thought he was done with homework.
• Small children are made entirely of elbows, knees and other assorted sharp objects.  Especially at 2:00 in the morning after a bad dream.

[On a side note, Mike has also learned to be careful what radio station you have on in the car.  Rihanna's singing "Whips and Chains Excite Me" can lead to an interesting conversation...]