Speaking of which, I had this exchange with L today, and I was very proud of myself. I came home a little early from work and thought I might walk the dog before L left. Of course, he was anxious to leave and went outside to smoke a cigarette when I got there, giving me just enough time to watch coley barf all over the couch and the kitchen floor. I was washing him off when L walked in, and I asked him to clean up the mess while I got Coley cleaned off and pajama'd and settled down to bed. L cleaned the couch, but I walked out and there was still a huge puddle of vomit on the kitchen floor. This was the exchange:

Me: There's still some barf on the floor, here are some rags...please clean it up.
L: But, I already cleaned up the couch!
Me (cutting him off): Yeah, and I cleaned up copious amounts of barf last night. Are you going to play tit for tat, or are you going to parent your children?

Gah. I mean, had I not come home from work, what would he have done? Would he have just left the barf on the floor for me to clean up, thinking it was enough to just get coley washed off and taken care of? And what about all of the laundry that was piled in the back room. The barf laundry that I didn't get to during the day.

It's amazing to me how this person's sense of responsibility and accountability is so freaking skewed. How he's ready to leave the MINUTE I get home, whether I am home an hour or two early or not.

At the same time, I was totally surprised in a pleasant way that he has offered to hang out with the kids during the day when I am at my end of year retreat for work. So, I probably should count my blessings. I'm sure if he was reading this, he would say something like "You are never satisfied with what I DO - you are always looking at what I DON'T do." Which might very well be a character flaw of mine, in spite of all of the character flaws that might or might not belong to him.

So, since this post was at least in part supposed to be about things I am thankful for, as I seem to be naturally or artificially inclined to focus on things in that way around this time of year, I will say that I'm thankful for my beautiful children, who I would not have without this man who befuddles and frustrates and angers me. And I am thankful that he will be taking care of them on the day of my retreat. And I will attempt to leave it at that and forget the other as best I can...in the morning...but I reserve the right to bitch about him at varous intervals as necessary.

Now it's 12:30, and it's getting chilly in my house, so I think I will lay down in my bed and snuggle under the covers with my two beautiful boys. And hope that Coley doesn't barf. And hope that everyone is feeling much better tomorrow.