This is My *Real* Life

This morning it just hit me how I have four dear children all at completely different stages of development and how demanding that is of me at all moments. Even on days when I'm not at my best! Today's highlights:
Isaiah, now 15 months, only wants to climb on any chair that he can find that will lead to a higher perch. Currently, all of the dining room chairs are pulled away from the table so that Isaiah cannot climb on to the table.

Anna spent the morning trying to distract herself from needing to use the bathroom. This meant that there was no cooperative bone in her body about doing schoolwork. When she took care of said bathroom issue she was able to finish school this afternoon, but it about drove me crazy this morning. Josiah, Mr. Energy, was perfectly happy to play with Anna this morning. The current favorite is to make forts with the couch cushions. He also got "just barely enough" school finished this morning.

This drove me crazy as I wanted a productive morning. So I gave myself a productive morning by starting to clean the bathtub and surround with Norwex products. This project included scrubbing with a toothbrush and was reasonably successful. The tub and tile grout more resemble white than yellow now. (I should say 1/3 of the tile grout and 1/2 of the tub! I didn't spend that long on this project. lol)

Aliza was focused on school. She was a bit discouraged because long division is taking her longer to do and actually requires her to think. About 11:30 she found that Anna had played with some of her toys and she dissolved in to sobs. I walked away and then I went back later and heard myself say, "Sometimes tears are just part of growing up." And I realized that I'm in a new stage of parenting.

And then I felt like laughing...I'm teaching the oldest words like "puberty" and the youngest is only focused on climbing on the table. And then I felt like crying because: How can I do all this and be enough for all of these growing stages?

We ultimately finished school and then Josiah could finally do the project I had promised him. I'm taking care of a cedar chest for a friend by using it and I decided that it will initially hold the contents of a filing cabinet that was falling apart. I moved everything over and then told Josiah to demolish the filing cabinet. I wanted to keep the handles, recycle the metal and put the wood on the burn pile. I didn't expect that it would make quite this mess. (It was not warm enough to be outside without a shirt. He eventually came in to put one on.) He loved every second of this project!

While demolition was occurring, Aliza decided that she really wanted to make supper. Potato soup and Beef Vegetable soup was on the menu for tonight. I made the bacon for the potato soup and she did everything else. For the most part, I was directing from the table while I readied school for tomorrow. Aliza did a great job. Supper was yummy. She was super proud of herself as she absolutely had the right to be!

My regret of the day is that I did not sit down to play with Isaiah. When I'm in those early intense disciplining days with littles, I think it's so important to get down on their level, look in their eyes and smile. Tomorrow...

Thank goodness it was Bible Study night for me. Honestly, I could hardly wait to get out the door and breathe.