From Now On...
After watching (babysitting is soooooo passe once they're past 3 years old) my neighbor's two boys this morning, I noticed a dirt trail from the door crossing the living room floor and leading to my son's bedroom, where the trail abruptly stopped. (Either the miscreant's feet had miraculously ran out of dirt to track in or it soaked into the carpet, I can't tell.)
I cheerfully (yes, cheerfully) went to get the mop to wipe up the telltale evidence of a combination of 5 little boys, 1 backyard, and 43 gallons of water. When I finished mopping up the living room floor, I figured the kitchen floor could use a little wipe down. (The kitchen floor ALWAYS could use a little wipe down.)
Now, we have 3 children, ages 7, 4, and 2, so I'm used to the various crumbs, globs, and spills in the vicinity of the kitchen table announcing to visitors what the day's breakfast menu was. But I was completely unprepared for the effect 5 children's lunch would have on my floor.
Oh, did I forget to mention I'd scrubbed the floor yesterday?
Silly me, lunch was Spiderman shaped mac 'n cheese, oranges, nuts, and juice. OK, I know it's not the healthiest lunch in the world, but it was all I could think of that all of them would eat. That, and it was the quickest food I could get to the table before my head exploded from yet another little boy asking me if lunch was ready yet.
I got the food on the table, sorted out who would sit where, broke up the fight over the Spidey cup with the crazy straw, and poured everyone's breakfast preference. I then excused myself for a much needed trip to the bathroom. (I have become my mother, I always have to pee.)
When I arrived back at the table, the three older boys (one of which is mine) were using their spoons to catapult web shaped pasta across the table at one another. The orange peels had been transformed into handcuffs (Moommy, boys don't wear bracelets), and the nuts served as cannon fodder for their straws.
The two younger boys watched with a gleeful enthusiasm I can only hope to someday emulate while viewing such a spectacle. They cheered their older brothers on, clapping their hands with delights, knocking over cups (those non spill cups are such a rip off) and spilling milk and juice everywhere.
Just as I was regaining my breath to deliver an ear shattering command to cease and desist (i.e. STOP!) the phone rang. It was my neighbor, and asked if I would please send her boys home now. She tentatively said, "I hope they haven't been too much trouble".
With complete honesty , I replied that they hadn't caused any mess that my boys weren't equally involved in. Then I mentioned that I hoped she wouldn't be mad if they came home wet.
I turned on the sprinklers and herded the boys outside. I figured that would be the easiest way to clean them up without making even more of a mess. Besides, the ants could use a snack and I didn't feel like picking pieces of Spidey out of my drain for the next two days.
As I returned to the kitchen and viewed the damage inflicted on my kitchen floor, a new Family Rule came to mind:
from now on, we're eating outside.
I cheerfully (yes, cheerfully) went to get the mop to wipe up the telltale evidence of a combination of 5 little boys, 1 backyard, and 43 gallons of water. When I finished mopping up the living room floor, I figured the kitchen floor could use a little wipe down. (The kitchen floor ALWAYS could use a little wipe down.)
Now, we have 3 children, ages 7, 4, and 2, so I'm used to the various crumbs, globs, and spills in the vicinity of the kitchen table announcing to visitors what the day's breakfast menu was. But I was completely unprepared for the effect 5 children's lunch would have on my floor.
Oh, did I forget to mention I'd scrubbed the floor yesterday?
Silly me, lunch was Spiderman shaped mac 'n cheese, oranges, nuts, and juice. OK, I know it's not the healthiest lunch in the world, but it was all I could think of that all of them would eat. That, and it was the quickest food I could get to the table before my head exploded from yet another little boy asking me if lunch was ready yet.
I got the food on the table, sorted out who would sit where, broke up the fight over the Spidey cup with the crazy straw, and poured everyone's breakfast preference. I then excused myself for a much needed trip to the bathroom. (I have become my mother, I always have to pee.)
When I arrived back at the table, the three older boys (one of which is mine) were using their spoons to catapult web shaped pasta across the table at one another. The orange peels had been transformed into handcuffs (Moommy, boys don't wear bracelets), and the nuts served as cannon fodder for their straws.
The two younger boys watched with a gleeful enthusiasm I can only hope to someday emulate while viewing such a spectacle. They cheered their older brothers on, clapping their hands with delights, knocking over cups (those non spill cups are such a rip off) and spilling milk and juice everywhere.
Just as I was regaining my breath to deliver an ear shattering command to cease and desist (i.e. STOP!) the phone rang. It was my neighbor, and asked if I would please send her boys home now. She tentatively said, "I hope they haven't been too much trouble".
With complete honesty , I replied that they hadn't caused any mess that my boys weren't equally involved in. Then I mentioned that I hoped she wouldn't be mad if they came home wet.
I turned on the sprinklers and herded the boys outside. I figured that would be the easiest way to clean them up without making even more of a mess. Besides, the ants could use a snack and I didn't feel like picking pieces of Spidey out of my drain for the next two days.
As I returned to the kitchen and viewed the damage inflicted on my kitchen floor, a new Family Rule came to mind:
from now on, we're eating outside.
posted by Kirsten at 1:52 AM
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