Was it worth it to let my 3-year-old nap the afternoon away yesterday, when it meant he would wake this morning with a tempestuous disposition and spend the entire day alternating between whine-tinged self pity and all-out fits of rage?
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Was it worth it to serve lemonade on the patio in the fancy glasses only to watch my 5-year-old's errant elbow send her glass tumbling to the cement, where it shattered into at least a thousand tiny shards?
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Was this little experiment with finger-fed berries and avocado worth the laborious clean-up effort after lunch?
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Was it worth it to spend an hour at the beach, when it was followed by a slip and skinned-knee in the outdoor shower before heading to the car; followed by peeling off wet, sand-filled shorts and T-shirts and carefully clasping seat belts around naked parts for the 3 minute drive home; followed by 30 minutes of hosing off plastic trowels, showering whiny children and running two loads of laundry just to get rid of the sand?
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Was it worth it to soil a perfectly clean kitchen to prepare a hot, healthy dinner for three over-tired children who would likely pick and complain at their plates while bobbing anxiously in their chairs to "please be excused so we can have dessert?"
No it wasn't worth it -- at least not that last part.
So come 6 o'clock, I made a choice that finally ended today's string of well-intended, but dismally disappointing mothering decisions: I decided to spread peanut butter on bread, spread a picnic blanket on the living room floor and open a can of green beans for the baby.
Swapping my dinner plan for a carpet picnic yielded a pretty clean kitchen and kiddos slumbering under the covers before 8 p.m. -- definitely worth it.
It sounds like your days and mine have been strikingly similar lately, but a picnic on the living room floor? Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI love how those 3 precious kids are looking up at you with absolute adoration. You are loved, loved, loved.
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