In the morning:
AARON! Stop it!”
“YOU stop!”
“No! YOU!”
(insert much whining and screaming followed by a thud and a smack and then much louder screaming, culminating in the final trump card of) “Mommmyyyyy!!!! He HIT me!”
“NO! He kicked me, first!”
Darn. I was trying my best to remain hidden in my cave (aka the bedroom). I even left the lights off and am sitting on the table, out of the line of sight from the door; hoping to retain this solitude a tiny bit longer. I saved my email and began to get up only to notice that the screaming had stopped. This can mean several options:
a. they’ve moved on from the argument and are ignoring each other.
b. they’ve moved on from the argument and are playing again.
c. they’re still arguing, but have each other around the neck and can no longer utter any sounds
d. everyone is unconscious.
Seeing how it’s a 50/50 chance of a Learning Lesson outcome, I remain sitting and cross my fingers that I can squeeze 20 more minutes out of this shadowy, vacant room. I type away furiously, hoping to write Something Worthwhile and am treated to another conversation, drifting into the room:
“Hey Aaron! Wanna do this look and search book with me?”
“Sure!”
Seriously? They’re seriously past whatever situation was so infuriating just 3 minutes ago that they’re now all hunky-dory, best-buddies just eating grapes and looking and searching together?!? How do kids do this? I wish I wish I wish that adults had the ability to forgive and forget so easily. Then again, they were nearly killing each other over the RIGHT to open a box of toys BY THEMSELVES, so maybe adoring the simplicity of a child isn’t without its faults?
“No!”
“YES!”
“It’s MY turn!”
“I saw it FIRST!!”
Ah. The cycle continues. Happy Times, my dears. Happy, happy times.
Then later this afternoon, I was sighing a happy little sound of pleasure as I lowered myself into my desk chair with a steaming cup of coffee. And then, as seems lately typical, I promptly dumped the entire mug across my computer desk. Soaked everything, including the computer. Awesome. Silver lining: I had a towel RIGHT THERE (because my kids don’t like to put towels away) and was able to clean it up before any damage (besides another stain on the carpet) was done.
TAKE TWO. Ahhhh… Coffee. In my mouth. Working its magic and I am loving every minute of it. I took the boys on a bike ride yesterday. They have gotten SO good at their bike riding! I cannot believe this are the same kids who, a month ago, hadn’t ridden their bikes because they were scared of falling. And now I have to force them to come inside after 1 or 2 hours of fun to do their homework! They’re clever, those two. They’ll see me clearing the table, and they’re out the door to practice their two-wheelies. They know how much I encourage them to be active.
Speaking of places to be other than right in my face, jumping up and down, driving me bat-crazy… We cleaned the basement! Again! Which means we should be receiving a flood down there within the next 2-3 weeks. So we have about 3 weeks to enjoy it! Aaaah. Thankfully, I did get a monumental amount of organizing and pitching done, with most of the focus being on elevating EVERYthing. And even though we didn’t have any new shelving to elevate upon, I used the closet doors that we took out of the boy’s room (don’t ask) and balanced them upon plastic bins. Voila! Instant shelving. I felt remarkably clever and thrifty. Even Jose, who hates that I save big pieces of wood for “no apparent reason”, was impressed. Never doubt me again, my dear.That’s about a wrap. Just me talking to the computer without any purpose or direction in mind.