Our morning routine usually consists of seeing big sister and big brother off to school, reading to Mary, grocery shopping, and going to the park or a scooter ride around the neighborhood. Inevitably, I fall behind on certain chores and projects at home. “It’s more important to spend quality time with Mary and indulge her in the things she likes to do,” I remind myself. “The dust bunnies and dirty dishes can wait,” I further declare. I can take on some of the chores during Mary's naptime and throughout the day, but my attempts to wrestle with the rest, after the children are in bed, can sometimes feel like an exercise in futility. By that time, I’m usually running on fumes, making it difficult to muster the energy to tackle bigger chores. On a few occasions, I’ve nodded off while trying to balance the checkbook or review the children’s homework assignments late at night.
But today was different. This morning after breakfast, I reminded Mary that we would be going out soon. To my surprise, she responded by saying, “I don’t want to go out today.” I turned to her and said, “Oh? Would you rather stay home this morning and do some things around the house?” “Yeah,” she said softly, her mind clearly more focused on her coloring book. That was all I needed to hear. I immediately set about doing housework. I made the beds, tackled the breakfast mess, cleaned the kitchen, mopped the floor, did 3 loads of laundry, unloaded the dishwasher then loaded it up again. All by 11:00 a.m. So pleased was I with my efficiency that I even used part of the morning to write this blog! In all fairness to Mary, however, she did help by sorting the laundry. She’s now educated on the intricacies of laundry-sorting: whites, light colors, bright colors, dark colors. She mopped her sister's bedroom floor. Then she loaded a pile of laundry into the washing machine, which meant I had to hoist her up so she could reach the opening. When all was said and done.…I probably would’ve been done by 10:30!! (wink! wink!)
Oh yes, Mary also played with bubbles and practiced her golf swing with her brother’s golf set. No, we’re definitely not at risk of ennui setting in. There’s plenty to do and the work we did this morning was just the tip of the iceberg!
3 comments:
You have precious days with Mary and it sounds like you are doing all you can to savor them. Working along side your children, yes, even the laborious chores, can be done in such a way that they are blessed and you are, too! I love the lazy days of catching up around the house - in fact, I better go start mine right now.
Your kids are gorgeous!
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