Pie charts...
One of Kate's new things is to write songs. She grabs a sheet of paper, a marker and writes down her ideas. Once finished she'll usually sing me the song while 'strumming' the guitar. Most songs go something like this, "one, twelve, pit, stop, mom, love, park!" (Sung at the loudest volume possible, of course.) Her songs are simple because she only knows how to spell a few words. But this morning she made up a new song and it went like this, "Peace and quiet. How do I find peace and quiet? I really want peace and quiet." And like her previous songs, this one too is sung at full volume. A song about peace and quiet sung unbelievable loud; she doesn't get the irony.
The past few months have felt mind-blowing busy. Our schedule has begun to slow and it is mostly a great feeling. But it's still winter outside and the little legs in this house are spinning out of control for spring. Mine are too, really. I've been longing for green grass, buds on the trees, tulips popping out and the smell of fresh, muddy puddles. Fighting seems to be at an all time high too. If I were keeping stats on the number and type of fights per day I could make you a seriously detailed pie chart. 15% of all fights are related to someone sitting too close to the other. Another 15% are due to someone sitting too far away. While 24% of fights are the results of not wanting to do something like brush teeth, pull on mittens or wear pants.
It's nothing new. I'm sure even cave day children fought over the size of the rock their sibling got to play with.
So with slower days and bored bodies we've been trying to be more productive. We've baked cookies, played 180,264 games of Sleeping Beauty, painted 84 pictures of scribbles in 84 seconds, tried on every one of my shoes, destroyed everyone's bedroom and so on. But we're burning energy and will hopefully follow it up with naps. I know I will! Or I will try. It's not really up to me.
With decreased schedules and increased hyper activity (in large part due to cookies for breakfast) I've been thinking long and hard about finding a children's manual. You know, something to tell me exactly what to do when child A needs your undivided attention while child B also needs your undivided attention. I've always thought a step-by-step guide to raising children would be an answer to all parenting prayers until this morning when I was trying to follow directions to assemble something super simple. That super simple thing ended up making me want to throw it through the window. I had directions, a manual, and I still couldn't get it right. I guess even with directions at our finger tips we still have to figure things out for ourselves.
But you know, if kids did come with a manual we'd need a room worth of filing cabinets just to store all the directions; one for temper tantrum 2 year olds, another for gentle soul children, another for bullies, and so many more. I guess I'll stick with the old fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants method.
The past few months have felt mind-blowing busy. Our schedule has begun to slow and it is mostly a great feeling. But it's still winter outside and the little legs in this house are spinning out of control for spring. Mine are too, really. I've been longing for green grass, buds on the trees, tulips popping out and the smell of fresh, muddy puddles. Fighting seems to be at an all time high too. If I were keeping stats on the number and type of fights per day I could make you a seriously detailed pie chart. 15% of all fights are related to someone sitting too close to the other. Another 15% are due to someone sitting too far away. While 24% of fights are the results of not wanting to do something like brush teeth, pull on mittens or wear pants.
It's nothing new. I'm sure even cave day children fought over the size of the rock their sibling got to play with.
So with slower days and bored bodies we've been trying to be more productive. We've baked cookies, played 180,264 games of Sleeping Beauty, painted 84 pictures of scribbles in 84 seconds, tried on every one of my shoes, destroyed everyone's bedroom and so on. But we're burning energy and will hopefully follow it up with naps. I know I will! Or I will try. It's not really up to me.
Anyone up for another round of "Scooby Wall Knock Down?"
Fresh and famous Craft molasses cookies wait for Matt and Dina to return home tonight.
IF the girls and I don't eat them all first.
A cookie for breakfast? Yes, please!
With decreased schedules and increased hyper activity (in large part due to cookies for breakfast) I've been thinking long and hard about finding a children's manual. You know, something to tell me exactly what to do when child A needs your undivided attention while child B also needs your undivided attention. I've always thought a step-by-step guide to raising children would be an answer to all parenting prayers until this morning when I was trying to follow directions to assemble something super simple. That super simple thing ended up making me want to throw it through the window. I had directions, a manual, and I still couldn't get it right. I guess even with directions at our finger tips we still have to figure things out for ourselves.
But you know, if kids did come with a manual we'd need a room worth of filing cabinets just to store all the directions; one for temper tantrum 2 year olds, another for gentle soul children, another for bullies, and so many more. I guess I'll stick with the old fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants method.
Trial and error. It's how I roll.
The product of my experiments.
Sorry girls, I'll get it all figured out one day.
Oops, I have to go break up another fight. Just another stat for the pie chart. I think this one is over who is older. Cue eye rollling.
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