The past week has been particularly full: A robotics tournament. A water polo tournament. A regional science fair. A championship basketball game. A park district basketball game that Johnny thought was a championship game. A Confirmation. 4 trips to the airport. Visits from 4 college students, 2 graduate school students, my in-laws, my sister-in-law, my mother.

And a stray cat we’ve named Pedro.

Mary Frances recently drew this image on our chalkboard. It captures the energy and intensity of this past week.

MFR, A Portrait of a Middle Aged Woman During a Busy Week, March 2023

But, in the midst of the chaos, there was a moment of maternal fulfillment. Courtesy of Josephine. She posted the following image and comment into our family group chat.

mom I understand ur frustration

I felt a warm satisfaction looking at that picture, imagining my child’s reaction to such blatant laziness. I relished the moment, awash in gratitude that the prefrontal cortex does eventually mature, albeit slowly and in unexpected ways. According to the National Institutes of Health, the prefrontal cortex is “responsible for decision making, reasoning, personality expression, maintaining social appropriateness, and other complex cognitive behaviors“. It reaches maturity around age 25.

It’s been a long wait.

I’m not sure threading a toilet paper roll onto a holder is a complex cognitive behavior. But it certainly falls under the category of social appropriateness. I texted Josephine back, admitting that it was the greatest text that she had ever sent to me.

Now I wait for the grammar skills to fully emerge.