Wednesday, April 30, 2008

It's a Schizophrenic Life

Question: Is it pathetic to blog three times in one day?

Don't answer that.

But I need to pose another question to you. First, let me describe two mornings to you. (And I admit, I'm totally plagiarizing this concept from someone else's blog I read months ago!)

Morning A: We got up on the earlier side and ate breakfast. Caroline even slept in a bit. We read our story Bible together, and everyone paid attention. Afterward, the kids skipped off merrily to play some game together on Eliza' bed involving lots of pillows and laughter. That gave me time to clean up the kitchen and even check my email, and post those photos. After a little while the kids got dressed, brushed teeth, fed pets, etc., and Ian vacuumed the family room, doing a wonderful job. We sat on the couch and read a great storybook together about Galileo Galilei, and Ian got a huge kick out of the fact that I, his mother, was actually ALIVE when the Catholic Church decided to pardon Galileo (1992), so we discussed that a bit. Then we went off to the Nature Center (listening to Jim Weiss tell more about Galileo, and Kepler, and Archimedes, as we drove). It was a truly lovely day, notable for its lack of stickiness, and we exclaimed over all the birds of prey and coyotes and other rescued animals they had there, then launched into a healthy and mildly strenuous hike through the woods to find a couple letterboxes, both of which we found. I sang a little bit on the way back to enjoy the Lord, and Caroline sang with me as I carried her. We stopped, at the kids' request, to watch the see-through honeybee hive for a while, and then Ian held my hand as we walked along and described some of what he'd learned about bees in his Insects class at co-op. We were able to leave the Nature Center with no tears about missing the Dino Dig Pit, and went on home (more Galileo) for lunch and nap. They shared their snack nicely in the car. Not bad, eh?

Morning B: We got up, ate breakfast, read the Bible. I didn't get a shower before Tim left for class. The kids went off to play and although I let them do so for a while, I eventually had to ask Eliza at least three times to get dressed, then another 5 times to brush her teeth, etc. ... and she lost her video privilege for the day, which made her pout. Ian complained about the vacuuming chore and wished he could do something different, probably like exercising the computer mouse. During the storybook reading, I had to put Caroline in her room because she was so cranky that no one could hear, least of all me. It took about 5 trips back and forth to the house for Mommy the Sherpa to get ready to go to the Nature Center. The whole time we looked at the animals, Ian was urging us to "hurry up!" When we found the letterboxes, the kids bickered over who got to find them and who got to stamp them and who got to re-hide them. Eventually they had a fight in the middle of the woods, with Eliza launching into full-out meltdown. I had to sing, because it was that or yell at them for being so pathetic (now THAT would be some excellent modeling, no?) My back and arms ached from carrying Caroline, and Eliza whined all the way back about how much her legs hurt, how hungry she was, etc. etc. They shared their snack nicely in the car ... after the girls tussled over the container and spilled walnuts on the floor.

So, which morning was it?
(Option C, "All of the above" is available)

3 comments:

Tracee said...

ummmm, was it morning a? ;)

Margo said...

I guess it option C. My guess is that it's about your perception. :)

Kristen said...

Is A the ideal and B the actual? Or, similar to Margo's idea, are there elements of both, hence giving you the feeling of schizophrenia--living in a world in which your children are both sweet and...not-so-much?