Flexibility

Rule #1 of parenting is probably "be patient." I'm mostly good at that. I was better at it before I had two kids, but still, I am naturally more patient than impatient.

Rule #2 of parenting is probably "be flexible." Now, this one I have to work on. I usually have my "plan" or at least my expectations in mind before we do things.

This morning's plan was to go grocery shopping and get outside till lunchtime. Play in the shade with mostly easy clean-up and get inside for food and Chloe's nap. Well, we got the groceries and a little snack, then out we went. Chloe had her bubbles and Evan had some trucks for the nice muddy patch left by the recent rain. There was some sidewalk chalk out and my camera and a glass of water. How peaceful.

Chloe, instantly bored with my plan, headed for the garage. She wanted her stroller. A ride in her stroller. So Evan jumped on his bike and off we went. They were done after one speedier-than-usual time around, so it was back to the plan. Well, not quite. Evan, still in the mood to "ride," got the tricycle out while Chloe drew some chalk lines on the sidewalk. Then Chloe took a turn on the trike while Evan played trucks. He really wanted me to play with him so I decided it would be alright as long as Chloe was occupied (she wasn't in clothes I particularly wanted mud on). Our time playing alone didn't last long so it was back to distracting the baby away from the mud. Bubbles.... that's in the plan. Let's blow some bubbles. I went back in to get our huge bottle for me to blow some too. No, she wouldn't have that. "Baby do it. My turn." She wanted the big one.

Suddenly, this huge bottle of bubble soap was spilled all over Chloe's entire body (I am still not sure how she did that) so I stripped her down and ran in for a change of clothes and a wet cloth to wipe her clean (she was sooooo soapy). She seemed to LOVE being naked, so I decided to just go with it.

Evan really wanted me to join him in the mud, so now that Chloe was free to get muddy, it seemed natural to just go with that too.





This was already more fun than my plan, but I was glad to be done running in and out of the house and setting up every toy we owned in the front yard. Or so I thought. "These trucks need rinsed. The mud's too thick. Mom, can you go get my water bottle to make the mud more runny?" (There is a science to the mud consistency, obviously.)

Back in the house and back out. Not enough water. Ok, let's just use the hose to rinse off a few trucks. "HOSE!!!!!!!!!" So much for my plan for quick rinses. Well, okay... let's fill up a tub of water for rinsing and be done with the hose. Mommy doesn't want everyone soaking wet today.... (you can see where this is going right??)







After several dozen trucks got stuck in mud, got rinsed, the tub got dumped and refilled, I guess that got boring to them. Apparently they started thinking: What about if our feet got stuck and rinsed over and over again...???

Oh yeah, that was more like it. Well, how bad could this get? Until Evan was wearing mud on his clothes (no idea how this happened) and Chloe was trying to climb in and sit in the pool... in her stinky diaper...

Okay, fine, scrap the stupid plan. There is never a plan! When will I realize that???!!! Off we go to change into swimsuits, a clean diaper, grab the sunscreen and the towels.... How much stuff can I possibly bring outside in a 90 minute period of time?

We played with the hose forever -- running all around and splashing in muddy puddles (yes, even me) -- until the kids were shivering (it is back down to 75 today) and it was way past lunchtime.

They had so much fun and I LOVED watching them and playing with them! I am so thankful that kids don't live by a "plan." How boring would today have been if it was all my ideas? I guess I'll never know, and I'm pretty thankful for that too ;-)

Off to wash all that laundry now!

Posted by Bree