The other day, one of the mothers at Nick's school asked what it was like getting all three boys in and out of the car. The truth is, sometiems it's really easy. And other times... well, it requires planning. I think about people with small children a lot, especially my friend Betsy, who has a 2 year old and twin infants (two months? Three? I lost count already.) I suppose each batch of kids has its own difficulties, a special set of ups and downs, of pros and cons. Yeah, I don't have two infants and I only have to carry one child, but Betsy doesn't have a three year old who pulls everything out of his dresser just to find the exact pair of shorts he's looking for, shorts that he wants to wear, NEEDS to wear, even though it's 7 degrees outside.
Andrew Is a baby and just fusses. He sleeps most of the time, unless I decide to climb into bed or get busy actually DOING something. Then he starts to cry so hard it sounds as though he's being tortured. Overall he's been pretty good. He only wakes up a couple of times a night. He doesn't have colic and is usually pretty mellow (although this morning he refuses to let me put him down.) But Andrew is also just under three weeks old, so we really can't expect too much.
Nathan is less than two weeks shy of being two. The terrible twos. Every single time I go to change his diaper or get him dressed, he reacts by running away. He asks - no, demands - at least seventeen sip cups full of milk a day, unless running up to me and shouting "ma mak! ma mak!" and waving a sip cup in my face counts as "asking." He drops toys all over the house, and thinks that jumping on top of Nicholas is great fun.
Nicholas is three. He likes to choose his own clothes. He tries to change clothes five times a day. He is always too cold or too hot. He leaves clothing and toys scattered everywhere, too, the clothes impossibly twisted and tangled inside-out. He is also old enough to get most of what he wants himself. He can open the fridge, closet doors, and he can go get stools and chairs so he can reach high places. He can use the water dispenser on the fridge. He wants specific things, and it is never anything that we have, and if we have it then it doesn't make sense. He can also make excuses, tell me he wasn't the one to make the mess so he shouldn't have to clean it.
It has taken me over an hour to write this post because I had to put in the Tigger movie for Nate, pop Andrew's acifier back in his mouth 46 times, feed Andrew, and wrestle with a drawer than Nicholas somehow pushed something behind so now it won't close, and I can't get the drawer out or reach over or under it. Nicholas shrugged, said he didn't do it, and proceeded to drag out 100 sheets of different kinds of paper and scribble on them in blue marker. The paper is still all over the place, the marker has no cap and is still on the table. The Tigger movie is almost over, Nathan is crying, Andrew is crying, they both need a diaper change, the drawer still won't close and I have no idea when I'll have to time to fix it, or if I even can...
So yeah, three kids... this morning I would trade them for sleeping in and a breakfast I didn't have to make myself.
2 comments:
poor fleen. it's just a 24 hour juggling act isn't it
O, sure! You say that now, but either you wouldn't be able to sleep/nap or as soon as you woke up you would run around looking for them & all the 'trouble' they cause. You are a fabulous Mommy -- you were born to be a Mommy & you are doing a great job! But it is exhausting.
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