Wednesday, November 18, 2009

His Not So Annoying Habits

Our last Truthful Tuesday question was "What is your spouse's most annoying habit?"

Interestingly, most of the posts/comments I saw were identical to my own, and the momma of Truthful Tuesday, Elizabeth from over at Confessions From A Working Mom.

Ladies, our husbands are not good at listening.

Now, first, let me take a moment and expand on my original thoughts: My husband doesn't listen to the little things, the everyday things. The ones where I tell him on Tuesday "So-and-so's wedding is this weekend, Mom's going to watch the kids so we can go." Wednesday I'll show him the gift I've picked up. Thursday, he'll sign the card I've put in front of him with a pen. We'll get to Friday and I'll ask him what he's planning to wear, and he'll look at me like I've sprouted a second head. And then I get "That's THIS weekend? Why didn't you tell me!?"

 Really? I mean, REALLY!?

But there are a lot of things that Big Daddy does well. That aren't so annoying. And, as I sit here listening to him snore on my couch while the NFL channel updates me on how Vikings coach Brad Childress should be feeling pretty secure with his job, I think I should share a few of those with you.

First, Big Daddy totally supports my decision to be a working mom. In fact, he supports me in darn near everything. (He does NOT support me so much when I decide to start some random craft something, spread stuff out all over random parts of my house, and then get sidetracked. My real life mind works a lot like the mind you have to read posts from. They're a little random. Really.) I know I've said a couple of times now that if we could swing it, he would be a stay-at-home-dad. It's not "traditional", but he really is the domestic side of our partnership.

As some examples: Big Daddy loves to cook. COOK-cook. Stuff from scratch. I'll do it, and there are days when I love to (like pumpkin soup day, which was followed by a tweet report on my pumpkin-craisin muffins. Delish!), but in general, I tend to cook things like spaghetti, or Hamburger Helper. I'm a "treat" cook, I guess, where he is a meal cook. We do tend to fight for grill time- he's a low and slow smoker guy, I just love the fab grill flavor.

He also is the official laundry folder. I will wash and dry for days on end, but  I HATE folding laundry. I HATE putting it away. I will allow it to pile up on the end of the couch and the chair in our room and in baskets in the hallway, and where ever else I can just pile it. I have this mental block to folding and putting away. It has something to do with knowing that someone is just going to pull it back out of that drawer, unfold it, and then, the horror of it all, make it be dirty again so we just have to do the whole thing over! So, we frequently are digging through the piles on the end of the couch to find clean clothes. At least until Big Daddy get's the day off and can catch up!

He will sell Avon for me! Because of our recent vehicle purchase, and some as yet to be defined electrical issues with his vehicle, he's been driving "my" Explorer. The one with the sparkly pink lips on the back, and "Ask Me For An Avon Brochure" on the side. And by golly, he hands those books out. And delivers product. One weekend, he even walked my moms neighborhood leaving books at each house. Huge.

He's an awesome Dad. He helps with homework, he reads books, he hangs out and plays games with the kids. He totally flies all but solo during tax season. He handles bedtimes, bath times, dinner time. He has pretty high expectations for the kids, as do I. As our kids get older and more capable, we have them work harder to develop their independence and abilities. He has goals and guidelines for our children and what's acceptable for them behaviorally, and he makes them stick to it. I love that we have that consistency in our parenting.

Nope. Big Daddy isn't perfect. But you know what? I'm not either. And perfect, quite frankly, is kind of boring. I'm pretty happy with what I've got, and ALL his habits. (Ok. Most of them.)

5 comments:

  1. What a great "follow up" post. It definitely sounds like you've got a winner there. I'm not sure how many husbands would drive a car with pink lips on it, let alone pass out Avon brochures!

    I'm also fortunate that DH supports me in everything. I honestly didn't realize how unusual that was-- or how lucky I was-- until recently. We are most definitely blessed women!

    ~Elizabeth
    http://confessionsfromaworkingmom.blogspot.com

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  2. What a great guy! This was a heart-warming post! It's so good to remember the stuff that is good about our guys sometimes! :) Thanks!

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  3. Sounds like you guys are a perfect fit! I have the same type of marriage, even though I am a stay at home mom, hubby still puts laundry away (cause I too leave it in baskets in every room of the house), and he is the cook. We joke often about him staying home and me going to work, because he is so much better at the domestic stuff than me.

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  4. What a lucky lady you are to have such a domesticated man. There is so much unfamiliarity (mostly the cooking and cleaning he does as well as the laundry I pile on the couch!) but it is really nice to have a partner who supports you. :)

    I also was one that said no to the minivan and I now have one in my driveway. Having 3 kids will do that to ya though!

    BTW, that is a great pic of you two. You both look so happy!

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  5. Oh! Almost forgot that you got a couple of awards waiting for you. Your blog rocks!

    http://crazyoconnors.blogspot.com/2009/11/who-me-nooo-yes.html

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