(as i shake my fist in the air.) okay, i'm just being dramatic. but seriously, my day started off a little like this...we RARELY have pee sheets anymore, so what the freak?! two nights in a row there was a midnight changing of linens. then, today i wake up to multiple bed wetters. so, whatever. every sheet in the house probably needs to be washed anyway, right? it's not like i have to stick my hands in the urine and scrub away on a washboard or anything. (thank you, maytag.) but then, in riley's efforts to be independent, i occasionally let her put the two scoops of ovaltine in her milk. this morning i was a little distracted with my children's overactive bladders and trying to get the crock pot dinner ready, so who knows how many scoops she ended up dumping in there before she knocked it off the table and on to the floor. it was like syrup. but at least max was napping and not crawling through it. and i probably needed to wipe down the floor, the table and chairs, the oven, the refrigerator, and, oh yes, the ceiling fan, anyway. and lest we forget about riley. naked, of course (because she still has to be totally bare to go to the bathroom) doesn't get a drop of the gooey chocolaty mess anywhere on her marker-covered body, but the clothes she had JUST taken off and were laying ever so casually on the floor, are more or less drenched. so do i throw them in the washing machine with the pee sheets or toss them on the laundry room floor and forget about them until they are pretty much stained beyond recognition? you pick. now it's time to plop riley in the tub to start scrubbing off the dry-erase marker she has tattooed herself with (thanks to an unobservant daddy). stay here for one second while i go get max (who has just woken up from his nap, all smiley and perfect). but wait, he's poopy. it takes a minute to find the wipes in the piles of clean laundry that i am only half way done folding. but the wipes are nowhere to be found. (how is that possible? we have 3 boxes of wipes in a little bitty house.) i put max down in the living room in an effort to keep the stink in his diaper and not squished out on me. but that kid is fast, and he bolts for my bedroom while i find a box of wipes in the barbie box. (what the?) i hear max yelling for me to come see how he has pulled himself up on the side of my bed all big and proud. i get there in time to tell him what a big boy he is, and in his excitement, he topples over and lands safely on a pile of my clean clothes. phew. wait...that's not good. so i scoop him up and put him on the changing table to discover that in his efforts to recover from his tumble, he gooed out of his diaper on my once clean, previously folded clothes that now just have to sit in their stink because the pee sheets have taken over and the ovaltine is waiting in line. so as i change max, i decide to put him in the tub with riley. wait. riley! i try to appear casual as i run in to the bathroom, (the water was not left on, but still) to find that she has dumped out the entire contents of the shampoo bottle. are you serious?! who would leave the shampoo out at riley level?! oh. wait. that was me. (in my defense, i thought i was going to take a shower earlier but then was interrupted by who know what. i'm not usually this much off my game.) so, whatever. there was hardly any shampoo left and i don't really like that kind anyway, all with the conditioner snuck in. finally, the drama appears to be over. but as i'm writing this, john paul comes home for lunch. after i'm done telling him about my morning he says something like, "riley, don't play in that." and then repeats himself multiple times. i see him go outside and assume that whatever disaster she was contemplating has been avoided. wrong-o. i don't know what the daddy did, exactly, when he went in the backyard, but it was not 'put-the-grill-back-in-the-shed-and-out-of-sight'...or at least 'dump-the-ashes-out-of-the-tray' that the little girl had been warned (over and over) not to play in. apparently daddy decided that telling riley "no" was good enough. so she came in with briquette ash all over her hands, face, feet and hair. pretty much her whole body. yes, the very body i had just scrubbed. and shaking the dust all over the freshly mopped floor, table and chairs, etc. so FINALLY, she is almost asleep with her blankie, watching diego saves christmas and i'm off to take a shower. (it being just shy of 1 pm.) but as messy as today is, i kind of like my janitorial duties. i'm happy that i don't have somewhere else i need to be or someone else that demands my time and attention, turning days like this into a nuisance, making them frustrating and stressful. i'm glad that i have chosen to be a mom that gets to be a mom. i am happy that i was able to laugh today, even in the face of pee. i am happy that there is no conflict, no struggle, no debate over what is most important and what can wait. these are my babies. and they will only be sucking thumbs and sleeping with blankies for another minute. and then it's gone. i'm happy that i can live in this moment. as sticky and gooey as it may be. i love this life. love it.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
curse you ovaltine!
(as i shake my fist in the air.) okay, i'm just being dramatic. but seriously, my day started off a little like this...we RARELY have pee sheets anymore, so what the freak?! two nights in a row there was a midnight changing of linens. then, today i wake up to multiple bed wetters. so, whatever. every sheet in the house probably needs to be washed anyway, right? it's not like i have to stick my hands in the urine and scrub away on a washboard or anything. (thank you, maytag.) but then, in riley's efforts to be independent, i occasionally let her put the two scoops of ovaltine in her milk. this morning i was a little distracted with my children's overactive bladders and trying to get the crock pot dinner ready, so who knows how many scoops she ended up dumping in there before she knocked it off the table and on to the floor. it was like syrup. but at least max was napping and not crawling through it. and i probably needed to wipe down the floor, the table and chairs, the oven, the refrigerator, and, oh yes, the ceiling fan, anyway. and lest we forget about riley. naked, of course (because she still has to be totally bare to go to the bathroom) doesn't get a drop of the gooey chocolaty mess anywhere on her marker-covered body, but the clothes she had JUST taken off and were laying ever so casually on the floor, are more or less drenched. so do i throw them in the washing machine with the pee sheets or toss them on the laundry room floor and forget about them until they are pretty much stained beyond recognition? you pick. now it's time to plop riley in the tub to start scrubbing off the dry-erase marker she has tattooed herself with (thanks to an unobservant daddy). stay here for one second while i go get max (who has just woken up from his nap, all smiley and perfect). but wait, he's poopy. it takes a minute to find the wipes in the piles of clean laundry that i am only half way done folding. but the wipes are nowhere to be found. (how is that possible? we have 3 boxes of wipes in a little bitty house.) i put max down in the living room in an effort to keep the stink in his diaper and not squished out on me. but that kid is fast, and he bolts for my bedroom while i find a box of wipes in the barbie box. (what the?) i hear max yelling for me to come see how he has pulled himself up on the side of my bed all big and proud. i get there in time to tell him what a big boy he is, and in his excitement, he topples over and lands safely on a pile of my clean clothes. phew. wait...that's not good. so i scoop him up and put him on the changing table to discover that in his efforts to recover from his tumble, he gooed out of his diaper on my once clean, previously folded clothes that now just have to sit in their stink because the pee sheets have taken over and the ovaltine is waiting in line. so as i change max, i decide to put him in the tub with riley. wait. riley! i try to appear casual as i run in to the bathroom, (the water was not left on, but still) to find that she has dumped out the entire contents of the shampoo bottle. are you serious?! who would leave the shampoo out at riley level?! oh. wait. that was me. (in my defense, i thought i was going to take a shower earlier but then was interrupted by who know what. i'm not usually this much off my game.) so, whatever. there was hardly any shampoo left and i don't really like that kind anyway, all with the conditioner snuck in. finally, the drama appears to be over. but as i'm writing this, john paul comes home for lunch. after i'm done telling him about my morning he says something like, "riley, don't play in that." and then repeats himself multiple times. i see him go outside and assume that whatever disaster she was contemplating has been avoided. wrong-o. i don't know what the daddy did, exactly, when he went in the backyard, but it was not 'put-the-grill-back-in-the-shed-and-out-of-sight'...or at least 'dump-the-ashes-out-of-the-tray' that the little girl had been warned (over and over) not to play in. apparently daddy decided that telling riley "no" was good enough. so she came in with briquette ash all over her hands, face, feet and hair. pretty much her whole body. yes, the very body i had just scrubbed. and shaking the dust all over the freshly mopped floor, table and chairs, etc. so FINALLY, she is almost asleep with her blankie, watching diego saves christmas and i'm off to take a shower. (it being just shy of 1 pm.) but as messy as today is, i kind of like my janitorial duties. i'm happy that i don't have somewhere else i need to be or someone else that demands my time and attention, turning days like this into a nuisance, making them frustrating and stressful. i'm glad that i have chosen to be a mom that gets to be a mom. i am happy that i was able to laugh today, even in the face of pee. i am happy that there is no conflict, no struggle, no debate over what is most important and what can wait. these are my babies. and they will only be sucking thumbs and sleeping with blankies for another minute. and then it's gone. i'm happy that i can live in this moment. as sticky and gooey as it may be. i love this life. love it.
