I'm having to parent my own child, what the hell is that about?

As you should know (if your playing along at home) the big girls are off at camp. They've been gone since last Sunday and wont be back until tomorrow. I've missed them dearly but not because i'm missing their loud voices, or constant bickering, i miss them entertaining Four!

It seems like all i've done this week is parent! Usually if Four wants something to drink or a quick peanut butter and jelly (5000 a day) he will just ask whichever sister is standing in the kitchen or nearest to the kitchen. When he wants to go outside, he recruits a sister and hauls ass. When he wants to play school or color or whatever else he's done the last 4 years, he goes to a sister. The hubs and i are just here to give emotional and financial support, ya know? Its like he's always had a group of kids to play with and now they are all gone! And all week long I have been exhausted! I mean, i have packed lunches, made millions of those peanut butters and jellies, a ton of "cup of kool-aids"........ I've played cars, trucks, colored, watched that damn red clifford dog movie 3 times, and mostly, I've LISTENED! The boy talks and talks and talks and talks about NOTHING, i think he just talks to hear himself talk. When the girls are here, i usually hear him having his conversations with them, but i'm only half listening because he is talking to THEM!

I am literally exhausted, i can barely type this. I'm at work and have this fear that Four is going to jump out of the a/c closet and start talking to me!! Thank god Grammice and my dad are getting him from pre-school today and he is spending the night with them because i'm not sure i would make it through another night.

I admittedly, have been spoiled. I have no shame, i've been spoiled. The girls love Four like we love Four, they automatically "mother" him because of the age difference and i've been blessed (lol) enough to benefit from that. It takes a village to raise a kid and my village was his older sisters....... and it just feels like the village went on strike and now i'm having to do it ALL by myself. And damn, this whole "raise your kid thing" is time consuming and exhausting. The hubs is helping but i'm the one who is doing the up and down to get the drinks/food/color books/give showers/etc/etc/etc, the in and out to watch him outside, the ear when he is chattering about something, and i assure you the boy doesnt lack language skills, there's always something for him to talk about or ASK ABOUT or give his opinion on!

Gawd, i cant wait til the girls get home!