Average Day

I'm falling a little behind. (Please do not mention Fete Day—all in good time.) It seems like I should have more time in the mornings since I only have two kids here, but sometimes we are out running errands and I am not home to get anything accomplished. Or I have enough stuff to do at home, that even after checking many things off my to-do list, I still look around and see dozens of other things I have yet to get to.

I thought it ironic that I was speaking to my mother the other day about how calm my mornings are and how the littles seem to keep themselves busy and I can get things done, only to be interrupted by Pearl who came downstairs with shampoo up to her elbows and hands syrupy enough for excess shampoo to be oozing out between her knuckles.

I told my mom that it was time for me to go, and I went up to assess the damage. Sure enough, she had painted the whole side of the tub with shampoo.

But that wasn't even the worst part. She had also taken a jar of powder out of my drawer and dumped the contents of it over everything inside.

Needless to say I spent most of that morning cleaning up something that wasn't originally on my list. But that is how is goes with a two-year old. (Remind me not to brag about how much time I have with three kids in school.)

We are mostly getting the routine down. Kids are gone, they come home. We have snack and try to read and do homework. I know it isn't all getting done. The homework, yes...but other things like piano are sliding into the abyss of good intentions. It is easy for rooms to be overlooked and extra laundry to pile up while we are making sure spelling words are organized. It is such a crazy balancing act. And June is starting to feel the pressure. She has more homework than ever and I've seen some tween angst over the last few days. Oddly, I had a thought that if I reminded her to be responsible and get her chores and homework done early, I think she would feel better. I personally feel that knowing I have all these things left to do in a time period that seems impossible is very overwhelming. But perhaps I can't tell her that and have her understand. Perhaps she just needs to experience it herself for a while.

I would love if I could hold my head to hers and transfer all the wisdom I have gleaned from my bad choices and foolish mistakes, but it just doesn't work that way. Pity.

There are still the joyful moments that make an average day better. Like last night when Tyler played the guitar and we made up silly songs about nothing and experimented with strange voices. I like Tyler's 'Arnold' voice, but it reaches new levels of ridiculousness when he sings with it.

Or good moments like when I came home the other day and the girls had found a pile of library books. I get the books so I can read with Daisy, but there is something so tempting about a pile of picture books. Simply irresistible.

And really, I should now go clean some part of my house. Or maybe do more laundry. Or look through all those school papers that are piling up...you know, just an average day.