I long ago was crowned Alexis' Official Chauffer, which means I spend a lot of time driving her to places and then waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more. It wasn't all that long ago that I made good use of that waiting time -- I worked.

Productivity was at an all time high. Alexis danced and cheered and tumbled while I knocked out all sorts of work.

And then Mila Kool-Aid Man crashed her way into our lives and productivity came to a halt. If she spots me sitting with a laptop, she runs over and key smashes her next novel. It's nothing short of a miracle that she hasn't manage to publish a blog post for me.

Yet. The key word is "yet" because she will make it happen any day now.

I also can't crochet or anything like that with Mila in the room because YOU GUYS. If you pull on the strings, fun things happen! If you pull on them while running, it's even funner!

She's not terribly helpful is what I'm saying.

To be honest, I'm fine with the loss in productivity. Mila may be a handful, but she's MY handful, you know?

It was Monday evening at dance when Mila last crashed my productivity party. There was crafting happening when Mila decided NOPE. NOOOOOPE. The other dance moms that were in attendance at the time commented about the crazy little tornado we call Mila. Of course, there was a comment about how one mom could never do the big age gap thing because "starting over again would be so hard."

Meh. There's always one of those comments.

It was through that conversation that I started to think about how the toddler years aren't really my favorite. I like babies and I like kindergartners. The stuff in the middle has moments of fun, but mostly it's a lot of work. Worthwhile work, yes, but work.

I said as much out loud to the other dance moms.

One replied in agreement. I don't like her any more, though, because she added, "Just when Mila becomes a fun kindergartner, Alexis will be a teen."

I HADN'T THOUGHT ABOUT THAT. Four years from now, when Mila is a super fun 5 year-old, Alexis will be 13. She will NOT BE FUN.

I'm just going to go sit in the corner and cry now.