It’s nice to have my patience back. Thank you, Iowa and Missouri.
Seriously, there’s something about a family who fawns on your child (and a find-religion week of unidentified nausea [turned out to be the new glasses, thank goodness] and sheer terror about the future) to make me appreciate my sweet little goofball a bit more.
That, and a five-part familial chorus of “you’re doing a great job” (versus the one, rather loud, “you need to change everything because nothing you do is right”) to give one the boost one needs to dive into this job again.
Mmmmm. Welcome home.
NaptimeWriting 
your own crazed voice should not be listened to. you ARE doing a great job. i had a similar weekend in north carolina. “you are doing a great job with those girls” goes a long way from a mother-in-law who is at least as particular as her son. well done, nappy mama!
@ j The lone dissenting voice wasn’t mine. It was a relative whose opinions have always been offered, loudly, and counter to whatever I am doing on that day.
yay! it’s amazing what family can do to lift the spirits.
See, that’s what good families do. Fawn over your child, making you feel like you’re a-shoing for that mom of the year award. Congrads on the glasses versus the other thing.