Tonight, In Photos
I rushed in the door with the kids at five o'clock, having delivered a meal to a mother at my parish who just had a baby. That meant I was running late for dinner, so tonight was definitely nothing fancy: frozen chicken nuggets (soy nuggets for me), rice, and collard greens with onions.
I did not put on a DVD tonight, so I got Mary set up with a crayon and a piece of junk mail. (Water is boiling, dump in rice, chop onions.)
John wanted a pack of playing cards, with which he said he was playing a matching game. (Start chicken nuggets baking. Start to saute chopped onions.)
He proudly showed me his line of cards and I took this photo, then intervened so Mary wouldn't totally mess up his creation. (Add frozen collard greens to onions and garlic.)
I diverted her with a game of magnetic fish. (Keep stirring collards, check rice.)
At some point, John found his "turtle shell" (as he calls it) made of cardboard and white string. (Check nuggets, too soft, put them back in for more time.)
Then both kids sat on one chair (always cute, but I'm holding my breath waiting for the shoving and squabbling to start) and played with my table setting. When I sat down to eat, there were blue crayon marks on my plate. (All food is done, send kids to wash hands with Daddy.)
And on another note . . . I have adored hydrangea plants since I was a little girl and got to see them on our annual vacation to the East coast. Finally, I have a blooming hydrangea! I had to transplant the poorly located hydrangea shrubs in this yard and baby them for two seasons, but this year they are two feet tall and have big blue blooms! I am so tickled.In a fun Catholic moment, three-year-old John said two neat things tonight during our family (decade of the) rosary. As I was praying aloud, John interrupted to say, "God is loving this." (This hearkens back to a few nights ago when he asked me in all seriousness, "Can we pray the rosary? The rosary is a good sacrifice for God.")
I walked him through that tonight was Tuesday and on Tuesdays we pray the Sorrowful mysteries and tonight let's pick number four. As I was praying, John (who still doesn't participate verbally and we don't require him too) interrupted me and said, "I want to pray the mystery." I said 'okay' (wondering what he would do) and he began whispering, as he is a shy perfectionist and no performer, that's for sure. I realized that he was praying the Apostles' Creed! He didn't say it perfectly, but he said much of it very well and this mama was quietly swooning with joy, but playing it cool. John is the type for whom, if I drew lots of attention, he would stop talking. And, indeed, then he said he "didn't know the words" so he didn't want to pray any more out loud (when I know perfectly well that he can say the Hail Mary and Our Father perfectly).
In the meanwhile, I've just about given up tracking Mary's language acquisition because I can't keep up. At 18-1/2 months, she has more than 80 words now and is simply a little parrot. She is saying many short, simple sentences too. And she's well over halfway potty trained. Even when she's in diapers, several times during a day she tells me that she needs me to take her to the potty (and her rate of success is much higher when she's not in diapers). Three times in the last week, we were out in public and she asked me to take her to the potty, where she did her business--that sure thrilled me. I hope that when we come back from visiting California, I'll devote myself to taking away diapers and see if she'll just launch into finishing potty training (as I suspect she will) and we can have her out of diapers by 24 months old.
So, that is the update. Over and out.
There have been a few days where I had the forethought to prepare dinner in the morning, or at least partially prepare it, depending on the meal. I haven't done it in several weeks though and of course it's not possible all the time, but it's always been good the times that I thought to do it! So that might be *one* way some moms manage *some* of the time. :) I think I need to try it again. Thanks for the reminder! :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point about the magical restaurant mentality.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could even let them help by setting the table. Agnes can, and in fact whenever she sees me start dinner she tries to bring me all the plates because she thinks it will be ready instantly. Funny.
I remember being pregnant with my third child and feeling very fearful about how I would manage. My mom, who raised 10 children, always said that three was the most difficult number of children.
ReplyDeleteOnce my daughter was born, I forced myself to start dinner early in the day. I would do whatever prep work that I could, or even prepare the main dish to be reheated once my husband got home.
Oh, and having three (or four) children was really no more difficult that two. I think in taking my mom's comment to heart, I should have considered who that third child was! Not me, btw. I was the ninth.
Also, I'm so very impressed that you managed to take pictures and blog about the experience later!
Sarah: The kids really enjoy helping me cook, but having John, at least, help set the table is hit and miss right now. I always offer that he can help me set it and sometimes he is so excited, and other times he says, "No, thanks." I have not imposed chores yet that he is always in charge of, so at this point he gets to set it if he wants. I don't know when I should change that to "you have to help me, this is not a restaurant." But, yes, I need to involve Mary more. She likes to take my table settings off the table, even though I tend not to put them out till the last minute. But I think it would help if I let her take the table settings and condiments to the table herself.
ReplyDeleteAnita: I can't tell you how many times I've heard that three is the peak of difficulty! Boy, has that been a consistent message from mothers of larger families. So I'm really intrigued about what is to come whenever God blesses us with a third. Still just waiting on that one. :)
ReplyDelete