Friday, November 4, 2011

This is why...

we are more often than not days behind in the dishes.  And it's not just laziness, although I'll admit that that plays a part. 

 No, this is the real reason.  This is what happens when I try to actually accomplish anything. 
Here's another shot, a little context. 

While I attempted to wash the dishes, Littler pulled on the curtains on the right side.  Hard enough to pull the curtain rod out of the little holder-doohickey and bend the rod in the middle.  I used to swear that they would spill stuff in the living room just so I would have to vacuum and they could run to their bedroom and create mischief of one kind or another.  Yes, I really do think that a 3 year old and his trusty little brother sidekick can really pull that off.  And yes, this was one of those days. 

So on days like this all I can do is sit there while one boy takes over my lap looking at a picture book of Excalibur and his brother sits between my feet on the foot stool, pretending to drive his car and getting handfuls of gas from his rocking chair.  And I try to stay awake.  Until the reader catches on to the driving game and takes over the driver's seat while brother is refueling.  And we're off to the races again. 

This also explains why I have trouble losing weight.  They pull this stuff and after it's cleaned up I go into the kitchen and have some Halloween candy.  Today I topped the candy - I made extra rice for dinner so I could make rice pudding.  I substituted cut up dried apricots and cardamom for the raisins and cinnamon.  Yum!  And I can admit to the other reason my weight and I don't agree - yes, I ate almost half the pan standing at the kitchen counter.  (And true to form, a large portion of that large portion was while the boys were pulling more stunts while I tried to, you guessed it, wash the dishes.  They were taking the tops off their milk cups in the living room to give you an idea of some of our evening chaos.) 

4 comments:

Mary Jo said...

Oh Kate. I SO get this. Today, while I was playing with Max, he reared back and smacked into me so hard that it made my nose bleed. THEN he proceeded to take everything off of the bookshelf. When my husband came home, I asked him for 10 minutes so that I could take a long hot shower.(That helped, by the way...) ANd is better for me than the HANDFULS of candy that I have consumed this week. Sigh. Just know that you are not alone.

*kate said...

Thank you! It just amazes me how some days are just insane! But tomorrow is a new day. (And there is still that 3 servings of rice pudding in the fridge :)

Five Star Nat said...

I get it Kate... I could run around behind my kids all day with a shop vac.. and still never keep up with the mischief they get into. I keep thinking it's because of the small spaces... but I guess we can just tell ourselves that we are raising healthy, curious children that will flourish because they've been given a safe environment in which to explore... blah blah blah... they will end up smarter because of it... (you know?)

*kate said...

Exactly Natalie! I can't be an at home helicopter parent. Some days are just a losing battle. Thankfully each day is different.