We were supposed to go on a field trip to Reed Gold Mine today, but it got cancelled due to the rain. So we've been having a fun rainy FREE day here instead. We've been building forts, playing games, reading books, etc. And since it's a quieter day, I've had some time to reflect (in between 95,000 interruptions) and have determined the following:
The math just doesn’t add up.
I figure each child needs me about 40% of the day – needs me to look at them, answer questions, hold them, feed them, change them, play with them, read to them, etc. And I think that’s being generous because it sure doesn’t seem like they’re on their own the other 60% of the day… But anyway, if that is true, that each one needs me 40% of the time, and 40%*3= 120%, well then no wonder I’m going crazy. For one thing, that means there is rarely a minute that I’m not meeting a need of someone, and also I’m usually trying to meet more than one need at a time. Plus, now that Colsen’s “neediness” has become very prolific in the middle of the night, I am forced to work double-time on half batteries. That math doesn’t work either. And a lot of times it feels like I don’t either. The real question, though, is how did Mom ever do it with FIVE??
Meanwhile the questions here are still going on and on…. Strider continues to ask the questions I still don’t know: both factual (“Would we go through Spain or Northern Africa to get from here to China?” “How do cows make milk out of grass?”) and hypothetical (“What do you think I’ll do on my 27th birthday?”). You don’t realize how tiring it is to admit you don’t know something 400,000 times a day until you have a young child in the house. Can this be good for my self esteem – to have “I don’t know” the most common words I speak in a day?
But then on the other hand (almost literally), we have Rayna and her questions. These are completely different in nature. She holds to the philosophy that the joy of life is in the dialogue, not necessarily in the logic or answers. So she likes to hold the same conversations over and over and over and over again. Today started out no different:
Rayna: HI MOM!!!!
Me: Hey Rayna.
R: So you’re taking a shower?
Me: Yup.
R: Why are you taking a shower?
Me: You know Rayna.
R: Because you’re getting all clean?
Me: Yes Rayna
R: You’re almost done with your shower?
Me: Yes dear
R: And then you’ll be all clean?
Me: Yes, and then I’ll get all dry.
R: You’ll get all dry?
Me: Yes, I’ll get all dry.
And on and on it goes. But you really can’t stay too exasperated with her for too long because MANY times a day, she’ll come running at me with her arms out and a very serious face, saying, “Ooooh, I just love my mama!” And then she’ll hug my legs very tightly. And that kind of repetition is a good thing.
Now Colsen isn’t asking questions yet, thankfully, but he sure is demanding. If he’s awake, which is about all day, and increasingly, all night, he wants to be held and entertained. My back hurts.
And my brain hurts.
But it’s all a blessing and I love having these 3 little voices in the house…. Well I love it about 90% of the time. And I get frustrated about 20% of the time. No, the math doesn’t work. Welcome to my life.
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