Saturday started perfectly for me: Allen let me sleep in, the kids were quiet, and only the sunshine on my pillow woke me up. Allen and I enjoyed coffee together then made plans for the day -- namely, attack the closet-cave-monster and retame the beast that keeps making a mess. We emptied the shelves, scooted and rearranged clothes, sorted out trash and give-aways, then sat down for lunch. While the kids napped, Allen went to Lowe's and came back with a trunk full of shelves. The kids enjoyed playing outside, and the weather was nice enough we opened the windows to keep and eye and ear on them. Meanwhile, Allen assembled shelves and we started moving things back into the closet. All in a day, I have a brand new closet that made Will say, "Wow-- I didn't know it was that big!" and Maddie chimed in with her opinion, "It is beautiful!" I still have a few projects behind that door, but I was glad to have my bed cleared for bedtime.
Sunday I somehow got to sleep in again. Yes, my husband is a sweetheart and a bit of an insomniac. By 8:30, I started clearing out my bathroom and by lunchtime the room was sparkly, smelling fresh, and had several reorganized cabinets. Since it was still a bit too cool for the kids to play outside, I entertained Maddie and Jon by teaching them how to clean mirrors and wipe the sink. Allen vacuumed and helped clean the shower and we had a lazy afternoon. At one point, I went to my room to choose my next novel. I ended up reorganizing the bookshelf and Maddie came and sat keeping me company. She whispered to me, "Mama, is this something only for us girls?" Since it wasn't, I got out the nail polish and painted her little fingers and toes so we could have some girl-time. I had so much fun with her that I asked her to help me cook dinner, and she loved that.
At dinner, when Ben thanked me for cooking dinner, Maddie piped up that he should thank her, too. When Jon and Will told me they liked dinner, she insisted they tell her, too. She was proud to be my helper. The boys fought over who got to clean up after dinner and in the end Allen oversaw it all: Will washed dishes, Jon rinsed, Allen dried, and Ben put them away and wipe the table. I think only one thing was broken in the process, but we didn't need it anyway, right?Letting kids help makes the job take longer and it usually isn't done quite to my standards. I'm learning to let go of the perfectionism as a mean to teach my kids how to do things for themselves. I know I should probably enlist their help more often, but its a learning process for us all.
And to wrap up February's events, here is what happened last night. Will came down in the middle of the night to tell me his smoke detector was going off and he was afraid there was a fire. It turns out it was just chirping because it needs a new battery soon, so I told him he could go back to bed. A while later, Will was at my bedside again -- this time with a rash on his tummy that was hurting him. In my mostly-unconscious-state, I said I'd look at it in the morning and sent him back to bed. This morning I saw he did indeed have some big, ugly red spots and I asked how he got them. He explained that he got them coming down the stairs on his belly. Why would he do that?? Yes, I asked. His response made sense: "Because the fireman said when there is a fire we have to crawl on our tummy to stay out of the smoke!" Poor little guy -- I'm glad his rug-burn didn't start a real fire, and I am REALLY glad he listens to safety lessons. Now, to go find that new battery . . .
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