This was an email Jen sent to me on January 22 of this year. You may have also received this email...even if you did, it's a great read the second time around. ~AG
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My Afternoon ...
Our family eats a nice, normal lunch.
After Aaron returns to work, Caleb, Ellie and I play a game of Candyland. It is 1:30pm. Ellie drops out of the game early. She starts collecting discarded cards and boing-ing the red figure all around the game board. Caleb whips me soundly. Twice. I didn’t even let him cheat.
We start getting ready for naps (or “quiet time”) … but …
While sitting on the toilet, Caleb accidentally pees everywhere. He didn’t point down in time. This is rather unusual. Pee is in his hair, face, clothes, mouth, on the bathroom floor … we both concur that it is time for a bath.
I get the kids naked for the bath. Caleb gets in. I need to run some more cool water. Ellie pees on the floor. Ellie gets in. I clean up the pee. From both children. Did I mention the toilet is[n't] flushing completely?
The kids are finally clean and covered in bubbles. They whine and bicker while in the bath. Ellie is very tired and Caleb is pushing her buttons.
Ellie dumps a toy full of water out of the tub. So I get her out. She has hit her wall. She cries “bubbo baff!” over and over hysterically, stamping her dripping wet feet.
I take Ellie to her room and dry her off. Her injured nose (from her slip yesterday - but that’s another story) starts to spontaneously bleed again. I find Kleenex and attempt to stop the blood but she cries all the more hysterically. She would much rather bleed all over her carpet.
I get her nosebleed slowed, and settle her into her rocking chair with some books, dressed in a diaper and pants only. I go get Caleb out of the bath. I wrap him in a towel and tell him to play with some trains while I get Ellie settled. He happily complies.
Ellie and I sit in the rocking chair with the Kleenex box. I sing her the “3-2-1 Penguins” theme song. She yells “NO NO NO mommy! No sing song!” and then she giggles. And asks me to sing it again. I will never understand the mind of an almost 2 year old. I sing the song about 28 times until I’m convinced her nose really has stopped bleeding. I put a shirt on her, finally, and settle her in her bed with a bunch of books. I leave to get stuff to clean up the blood on her carpet.
On my way back, I check on Caleb. He is in his room, naked, covered in green, yellow and orange marker … on his hands, belly, legs, arms … I think, “Ahhhh, that was the crash I heard. The marker and crayon bin.” I confiscate the markers. I will be back.
I go and clean the blood off Ellie’s floor. She lays in her bed, watching me with her binkie and blankie. She reminds me to turn off the light on my way out. She is ready to sleep!
I go back to Caleb and explain, again, why we have the rule of “only get colors out with mommy and daddy”. We go into the bathroom and I scrub him, leaving a hint of color tint throughout his little body. We get dressed in clean, non-peed on clothes, he climbs in my lap and whispers “I wuv you mommy”, gives me a kiss and crawls into his bed. It’s amazing how that little kiss makes up for a multitude of pee and marker! I start his music and leave.
I walk to the bathroom. There I see … water on the floor, towels with either pee or nosebleed strewn about, washclothes with either pee or marker tint hanging over the sink, toys with bubbles in the tub and bubbles all over the sink (I don’t remember how those got there …), kids dirty clothes … and I walk away.
It is only 2:50pm.
And I thank God that this was a totally and completely abnormal afternoon.
Hope yours is going better!
Love ya! :-)
Jenny
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