Who is Richard Patience?

Eva is babbling in her car seat behind me and Sam in gnawing on fruity gummy chews that I got from the co-op last week, so I dare to turn up the radio. On NPR Paul Brown (or maybe it’s Craig Windham) tells us about the compromise reached at the United Nations climate talks in South Africa. He explains that “richer nations will funnel money” to poorer nations through a fund.

“Who is Richard Patience?” Sam asks.

“Richer Nations,” I say. “He’s talking about countries that have money.”

“Where do they get their money? Where is it?”

“I don’t know but they’re going to share it.”

“Oh,” he pauses for just a moment before screaming at me that he is done with his gummies and I need to take his empty bag. “NOW Mommy. HERE!” I reach in to the back seat and exhale.

I start humming You’d Better Watch Out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why, something I’ve been singing since Sam insisted he dress himself this morning and then nearly melted into a puddle when he couldn’t get his arm through his inside-out sweater sleeve.

Mornings are not always fun in our house. The LEGO advent calendar has helped. It gets him out of bed. He lifts his sleepy head and runs to the kitchen counter and looks for the next number. Sometimes he’s punched through the cardboard and pulled out the little creation before I even catch up with him. But some days his frustration at not being able to do the build by himself and my frustration with the incredibly long amount of time it takes for a 4-year-old to dress himself collide in a frenzy of “COME ON we need to go RIGHT NOW or we’re going to be late!”


Read the rest here.