Since I woke up facing a dozen piles of dirty laundry, I decided to start a load before I had breakfast. I loaded the washer with clothes, opened the drawer for the laundry soap, and started to pour in dog food. I realized then that I needed to start the day with coffee rather than laundry. I should have just gone back to bed.
The morning went mostly fine. I put laundry in the washer, I put laundry in the dryer, I put laundry in the baskets, I folded laundry and put it on the couch, I folded laundry and put it on the counters, I folded laundry and put it on the bed, I folded laundry and put it in the baskets, I folded laundry and sent the little kids with little piles of little laundry to put away. Just about the time I was ready to puke laundry, they asked for a picnic lunch.
After such a sweet morning of helping me, I was glad to shoo them out into the fresh air to have a picnic in their playhouse. They had a nice little lunch, brought their plates back inside, and asked to play for awhile before naptime. Sure, sweet things! Anything you want... since you helped with the laundry. Not long after that, I had to confiscate shovels because they were digging up the yard (they have been told that's not allowed.) Not much longer after that, I confiscated sticks that they had turned into yard-destroyers. If we wanted our yard to look so ugly, we would go get some gophers. In the amount of time it took me to take the toy baskets (full of sticks, shovels, and pails) to the garage, they managed to use their hands to dig a lot of sand onto the porch. They proceeded to pick up handfuls and throw it at the windows. Thankfully, the windows were shut, but they got in lots of trouble for that. The porch looked like a hurricane blew through, the yard had a new pit, all three outfits were covered in sandy mud, and I had flames coming out my ears. Ben, Maddie, and Jon were stripped to their undies and sent to bed for naps. For a few photos of that part of the day, see previous post.
The best I could figure out from the different stories, was that Maddie might have been trying to jump from the dresser or the bed. I suppose she forgot to plan the landing, so it ended in blood, tears, hug and stern lecture. Ben and Maddie went back upstairs to plan, and I started working on jumbalaya for dinner. Eventually, Jon ended up upstairs, and before I knew what was going on, I heard the handrail of the stairs being used as a race track. I went upstairs, and heard the footsteps scurrying before I got to the top. When I called all three to me, Maddie was stuck under her bed, having crawled under to escape the spanking she knew might follow. Jon also was hiding, but as the story was told, it was only Maddie and Ben letting the toys go down the rail. As the Matchbox cars, tractor, toolbox, dollhouse bed, Barbie went down the rail, they each punched a new hole or dent in the wall when they crashed. The teddy bears all landed silently, and they didn't seem to do any wall damage. I demanded that toy room be picked up and I went to finish dinner.
All four kids were upstairs goofing off ... not picking up toys. I went up with a trash bag and told them that whatever wasn't picked up when I was done cooking was going in the bag. That gave them plenty of time. Just a few minutes later, I heard,
"Stop it!"It was the really long apology that clued me in that I should check it out. I went back up. Same song, second verse. I rushed upstairs to see what happened, but Ben met me at the top with a face full of blood. That was one of those moments, I just took him and ran to the kitchen where I can figure out which part(s) are bleeding. His teeth were bloody, his lips were both split and bleeding. I wiped the mess, gave him a towel with wet ice to help the swelling, and made sure his teeth were still in snuggly -- they seemed to be. I'm holding off on the dentist or doctor visit -- after all, I have some experience in this department (I say with a grimmace, knowing that at least if I have to go, I'll just take Maddie and Ben.) It turned out Will got mad about something so he stepped on Ben's face. I don't understand how my kids are going to make it to their teen years acting like this.
"No, you stop!"
"I'll make you stop."
"WAH!"
"You deserved it!"
"WAH!!"
"I'm sorry, Ben! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Ben bled much more than Maddie did. In fact, he had enough blood on his face, that later I found I had flung it all over the wall when I picked him up. While I was cleaning up the blood, I snapped a phone picture to show Allen what he was missing. Instead, I should have checked dinner. It's a good thing I doubled the recipe, because all the food on the bottom was burned. We still had plenty to eat, and it turned out pretty tasty. Dinner was tense. I was worn out, Allen had a long day at work, the kids knew we weren't happy, and Allen and I were wishing there was a parents' manual for days like these. We considered all the ways to handle our "situations," and even thought about not letting Will go to Cub Scout camp this weekend. We got the kids in bed. The laundry is mostly put away. The soup pot is soaking. I am pounding out my frustrations on the keyboard and trying to enjoy a bite of ice cream.
When I write about days like this, I have to chuckle knowing that several of my friends read my blog during their tough days :) Days like these are good to write down... then when I feel like I'm having a bad day, I can re-read it and realize it could be worse. I am thankful that we didn't have to make any trips to the hospital, doctor, or dentist (yet.) I am thankful for every single moment that Allen is home to help me parent. I am really, really thankful for the few minutes at the end of a crazy day when I can sit and enjoy silence, and thank God that I survived the day.
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