My Real Life

So, you ever have one of those days? 

You know the ones. 

The kind where you can’t shake that grumpy feeling, no matter what?

Well, today was one of those days for me.  However, in my house, those days are catching.  It is rare that just one of us is having one of those days.  When one of us is down, we’re all down.  I guess it’s nice.  Like we’re a big team.  One for all and all for one.  Yeah, nice.

So, today was one of those days.

I had a meeting after work and then picked up Baby Monkey at daycare.  Apparently, I got there right before snack time, and even though I assured him he could have a snack at home, the tears started in the car on the way home. 

We got home around 4:30 and my Dad had been watching the big monkeys.  He couldn’t get out the door fast enough.  He gave me a “I don’t know how you do it,” and headed out.

Turns out Monkey Girl was tired and grumpy and Monkey in the Middle was taking advantage of her grumpiness to push her buttons.  The end result was a lot of drama.  My Dad doesn’t do drama.

So, I checked everyone’s homework and got dinner started.  Baby Monkey was crying that he wanted his dinner “a little hot.”  I don’t even really think he knew what he meant.  Monkey Girl was crying, saying that she was going right to bed after dinner because she couldn’t stay awake, but then the next second saying that she wasn’t tired and wanted to stay up late.  Only Monkey in the Middle was relatively unscathed by the mood, however, he hates the sound of Baby Monkey crying, so he was covering his ears, crying a little himself.

It was quite a scene.

We had Back to School Night for Monkey in the Middle tonight, so the monkeys and I ate early.  After dinner, the four of us were just sitting at the table, looking at each other with grumpy looks on their faces, and I knew I had to do something.

So, I headed to the living room, turned on my iPod, and started dancing.  It took less than a minute for all three monkeys to join me, and it turned the whole evening around.

Here they are dancing to “All The Single Ladies” by Beyonce.

I apologize for the fuzziness.  I can’t quite figure out the action setting on Real Man’s camera.

Here they are with “Thriller.”

I don’t let my monkeys dance alone.  I always am in on the action.

Monkey Girl wanted to take a picture of me dancing.  She can’t figure out the action setting either.

So, after about a half hour of dancing, we collapsed on the couch, snuggled for a bit, and then they all went off to play, happy again.

Dancing.  The answer to the world’s problems. 

We should mandate a dancing break in Congress.  Get those Democrats and Republicans to dance across the aisle to a little Britney Spears and watch those partisan issues disappear.

Works for us.  What works for you?