Three strikes or is it 4? Doesn't matter - I'm OUT!
Today has become one of those days I'd like to throw in the towel. The phone rang, it was a nursery co-worker saying she wouldn't be there on Sunday - in our brief conversation on how to work things out I heard water running in the bathroom (almost always a sign of trouble these days). I ran to the bathroom to find 2 bottles of nail polish had been emptied into the middle of the bathroom floor along with nail polish footprints leading away from it onto the toilet to the sink where Kassie was sitting completely naked trying to wash more nail polish off her feet & was only getting it onto her hands. After a short freak out (come on - I was entitled), and a swat to her butt I started cleaning up the mess. At which point she decides to make me feel totally guilty and let me know that she had pooped in the potty. A first for her & at any other moment would have been the cause for an extreme amount of ridiclouse hoopla, but not today - it simply got her out of hot water for the moment. I told her good job, that I was proud of her & gave her a reward - but then it was back to the mess.
In the middle of cleaning up the nail polish mess - did I mention both bottles were dark colors - 1 black & 1 charcoal glitter - I hear glass shattering in the kitchen. I tell Kassie not to move (still sitting in the sink butt naked) and run to the kitchen to find Maddie standing on the kitchen table with my drinking glass of water spilled everywhere and shattered on the floor. For those not keeping track she is not quite 14 months old & yes she climbed on the table by herself, I'm not THAT dumb! I grabbed her & under great protest buckled her into the baby swing - she was screaming the entire time. I left to go clean up the nail polish mess. She cried the entire time, but she was safe & for the moment that's what was required.
The nail polish mess got cleaned up, nicely I must say - I dare Dan to find it - sure I had to scrub the cracks of the linoleum out with a q-tip & it took just this side of forever it seemed to clean it up but hey it's not there anymore! Then I cleaned up the broken glass and water. It was time to parole Maddie from the swing - in all her fussing she pooped & had a blow out. I cleaned up that mess too & on my to the trash can the phone rang. It was the school - Abbie threw up at lunch recess & could I come get her. "Sure, I'm on my way". She's home now & I'm pretty sure she's not sick. Last week she had strep throat & a cough to go with it, the cough is still hanging on from time to time. She said she had an asthma attack - she doesn't have asthma but what that told me is that she did what she's seen Nate (who does have Activity Induced Asthma) do at least 100 times - run around, cough, vomit. But school rules are if you throw up you go home. So she's chillin' on the couch watching Winnie the Pooh and says she's hungry for Doritos - yea I don't think she's that sick. As long as she doesn't throw up again - I'm going to pass it off as a side effect from a coughing spell and let her attend her dance recital tonight.
So believe it or not in the middle of this mess of this day I don't have any trouble finding something to be grateful for to end my blog with - but it came much earlier in my day - but I'm clinging to it - as it's my "I must be doing something right" moment that I so desperately need from time to time.
Early in the year the primary started a reading program with the kids - they gave them little timers and a tracking sheet & they are supposed to read their scriptures 3 minutes a day. For the first 3 months we were horrible at it - read as, we didn't do anything with it. Then in a moment of frustration I decided if I wanted it to be a priority it was going to be up to me to make it one. So I started getting up 20 minutes earlier, with my goal of having the kids lunches made before they got up, then making their breakfast as they got dressed for the day - then to read to them while they ate breakfast. We did great in April & May (and so far in June too), reading every morning while they were "getting ready for school". Weekends are another story, but for now we are reading at least 5 days a week consistently and that's about 5 times better than we were doing before. Dan & I promised the kids well over a year ago - maybe even 2 years ago that we would take them to Disneyland if we could read the entire Book of Mormon - we've not yet done it that tells you what a challenge scripture reading has been for us - so what we've accomplished is HUGE. We started from the beginning and we are now in Jacob (just about done) - we read aloud - no tapes etc, and pause to talk about what we read & I answer any questions they have, I want them to understand what we are reading not just have it go in one ear & out the other, so we are doing more than just listening/reading but we are discussing it too. It's been a great way to start each day. Sometimes Kassie or Maddie are awake & they sit & listen with us. Dan is gone to work by then so usually it's just me, Nate & Abbie, but it's been AWESOME. So it was time to read this morning & out of the blue the kids ask if they can follow along. I've always had scriptures there & tried to get them to follow along but they were not interested and I figured listening was better than nothing & I didn't want to push the issue. So when they asked if they could follow along I was happy to oblige, then they asked if they could take turns reading - I all but jumped out of my skin with joy. This is bigger than just taking turns - both of them struggle with reading and so not only were they wanting to read (a feat of epic proportions) but they were choosing to read the scriptures with me. Not a pleasure book, the scriptures. WAHOO - now Charlie Sheen - that is WINNING! And that is making this disaster of a day - not quite that bad.
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