One day, a thousand moments
Things I Wish I Never Had to Say Again (but will probably say again tomorrow)
1 Do that in the bathroom
2 Don’t pick your nose
3 Can you talk to your brother in a different way please?
4 Get a towel and clean it up
5 Don’t poke your baby sister in the face
6 I’m in the bathroom, can this question wait?
7 If we have any more towels left, get one and clean it up
8 Eat your lunch
9 Do you see spit up down the back of my shirt? Here wipe it up.
10 I said don’t pick your nose(or atleast see #1)
I remember being the child and having the same things repeated to me over and over. ‘Don’t crack your knuckles.” I try to think about what words I’m using and whether they really need to be said. But in the end, I buckle and say the words on my tongue and see my children shrug my words off. Maybe I should try singing them like opera? Atleast it would get their attention.
As look back over this list, it seems wrong to leave this as a summary of my day.People ask me how things are going and there just isn’t one word that fits an entire hour, much less a day, or a week. We’re going moment by moment, taking the good with the bad, the smooth and the messy, the frustrating and the miracles.
Top Moments of the Day that Make the Above List Worth It
1 Watching 3 kiddos sit out the 95 degree weather waiting for the ice cream truck
2 The Boy runs up to me with a picture he’s drawn and says “can I bring it and show it to my teacher(swim teacher that is)”
3 Mookie doing the butterfly stroke down the lane after 5 weeks of swim lessons, which began with a refusal to go to the deep end. She’s grown in skill and character.
4 Laying next to Sparkles and we gaze at each other, both smiling, both thinking the other is terrific
5 Hearing “Yes Ma’m” more often than not
6 Eating good fresh dinner outside
7 Summer baby clothes which makes rubbing sweet baby skin with rolls, easy
8 This quiet moment
9 Listening to Sparkles “talk” back to her 3 big siblings as they talk to her
10 Finished a good book
3 Comments so far
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I’m with you. What defines a good day of mothering? That your children didn’t misbehave or that they learned one tiny bit of what you tried to teach them for the day? I enjoy school age children more than toddlers, but I am finding this summer a whole new set of challenges as they bicker, pick and outright fight with each other. It tries my patience, but a friend said, “Didn’t you have siblings?” I did, indeed, and we fought. So I’m trying to remind myself that I don’t learn all lessons the first go-round and neither do my children.
I’ll now confess that I’ve contemplated putting a recording of my voice in their rooms at night saying, “Use gentle words. Say please and thank-you. Be kind to others. Put your dirty clothes away when you take them off. Etc.” Maybe if they absorb them subconsciously, I won’t repeat myself constantly.
I think the fact that you ponder what you are saying and whether or not it makes any difference demonstrates what an awesome and above-average mom you are. If your labor is known by your fruit, then know you’ve got some amazingly fruity kids under your feet who love their mom with good reason. I know I do.
Tell “the boy” to pack his clothes, Aunt T is coming. Oh, guess I’ll take the one up top, too. Well, shucks, just tell them all to pack their bags, the bear is on the deck waiting for them.