<p>You buy your kids beer and they play beer pong at your house? Wow, I’m either really old or really square but I can’t imagine my kids wanting to party while I was in the house!</p>
<p>sk8rmom-No, We did not buy him beer, I guess my sarcastic statement, twice, about beer wasn’t clear enough, and No, we were not home when the activity took place, so much for going out of town while your college age son is home!</p>
<p>You parents are too nice. My parents would laugh at me if I asked any of these, unless I was in a pinch because of working multiple jobs in a day.</p>
<p>That… and I really don’t want my parents touching my laundry. Or making me food. Or driving my car.</p>
<p>Ha! First question S2 asked me when he got home was “Um, would it be possible for me to get some clean laundry?” To which my answer was “Um, yes, if you know how to run the washing machine.” He laughed and did it himself.</p>
<p>Give it some time. Our son is home now and we LOVE LOVE LOVE having him here. Tonight he is cooking dinner for us. He has done the dishes every night he has been here without asking. When he did HIS laundry, he asked if we had anything we wanted to put in to fill the load. He even put gas in my car yesterday and stopped and bought milk on the way home without being asked. </p>
<p>malibu - thanks for the post that made me laugh. our kids must be kindred spirits (but for us it’s water bottles and snack food packaging that has not been cleaned up). I am still loving having D home, but the house is a lot messier and I am doing more laundry!</p>
<p>All of the above plus I am regularly reminding my 2 sons that this house is not their POS garbage dump apartment and they can’t leave their crap lying around all over the place. Every night my wife makes a terrific dinner (it is nice sitting down together as a family) but then 2 hours later they are making sandwiches in the kitchen!</p>
<p>Do you think this is THEIR problem or…OUR problem?</p>
<p>Have we just got used to not having these messes, less laundry, less demands, etc. because they have been gone?</p>
<p>Are they just falling back into the routine they knew when they were home before college but we just can’t remember how much time/energy we spent meeting all these needs before they left???</p>
<p>I don’t know! Just something to think about!</p>
<p>Loved have both Ss home for Christmas. S1 was only here for 2 1/2 days and left yesterday. However, S1 is here for the 3 week break. He made the turkey (well, he prepared it and I baked it), made the stuffing, mashed potatoes, homemade pizza last night, guacamole, and his own special salsa for him and his dad (VERY spicy).</p>
<p>S1 arrived for Thanksgiving with laundry. I asked him if he had laundry to do this time, too. He said, yes, but left it in the car. When I left to go to the grocery store, I asked him to bring it in and take it upstairs to the laundry room. When I returned, he had put it directly in the washer and it was almost done. </p>
<p>S2 does spend an enormous amoutn of time hooked up to his computer in his room, but there is music in the house again!</p>
<p>Eldest son (Engineering Sr) came home with a duffel stuffed to the brim with dirty laundry. Apparently no laundry had been done since he was last home on Thanksgiving. I felt pity for him as he had been in the lab 24/7 for weeks doing final projects, so I was sorting the nasty stuff into four loads to do for him, and I asked “Did you really bring home every last piece of dirty clothing?” </p>
<p>“No, we had a hockey game last Thursday. I left my worn hockey uniform in my closet since I didn’t want it to stink up my duffel bag”. </p>
<p>!!! That room should smell wonderful after 3 weeks! They may need to fumigate the entire apartment.</p>
<p>^ My stomach just flipped a little. My dad used to play hockey and leave all of his clothes in the garage after games. It’s been 15 years since he played his last game and I can still remember that smell. <em>shudder</em></p>
<p>Although I miss watching his rec league hockey games, and high school hockey games, I don’t miss carpooling home with four stinky hockey players in the car - vile. Opening the hockey bag, you could just keel over. Then again, I remember the days of carpooling four 13 year old boys to Bar Mitzvahs - had to keep the window open so I didn’t pass out from the smell of the cologne! </p>
<p>For all the stages we can be sad to have moved on from, I guess we can always be able to find some facet that it is a relief not to have to deal with.</p>
<p>I am happy to have them home, but will be glad not to have towels on the floor in two weeks.</p>
<p>S2, a college senior, is in the middle of his three week “vacation” with us. He generally sleeps til noon, comes in late, leaves dishes in the sink. Today he told me the doorknob on his bedroom door was loose as he was walking out the door to meet friends (just had all the knobs in the house replaced a few months ago). DH says “I guess it never occurred to him to get a screwdriver and tighten it up, huh?” Oh yeah, he’s another one who had not washed any clothes since T’giving. S1 (2 yrs. out of college) was here for a week. I’m still finding drinking glasses all over the house that he left in his wake.<br>
I really do lov’m.</p>
<p>As Thumper says, it really doers get better! DS, who is now 23 and in grad school, just left and his room is immaculate! AND he gave me the biggest, longest hug I’ve had from him since he was little. It was a lovely, bittersweet moment. I think he really will miss us, despite being very happy where he is now.</p>