So Monday was one of those days that every mom dreads. My baby woke up sick and very needy. I woke up and went down stairs and the kids had made a fort out of every blanket and sheet in the entire house and had used all the toy buckets as weights. Everyone was super cranky so by lunch time I was done. I had the older kids turn on a movie and I went upstairs to see if I could get Emma to take a nap. If I got up she would get up to so I put her in my bed and laid next to while nursing Nathan. Needless to say I fell asleep and woke up 2 hours later to the smell of cookies. A little alarmed I ran downstairs to find my three older kids pulling a batch of cookies out of the oven. A variety of emotions went through me all at once. Anger because of the huge mess they had made. Shock because they were confident enough to attempt making cookies entirely on their own. Fear that someone could get burned. And of course a little pride. I have been working on teaching them how to cook meals and read recipes and apparently they understand.
Before I could do anything about the mess in the kitchen Nathan woke up hungry and I needed to tend to him. I asked the kids to clean up the mess they had made both in the kitchen and with the fort. They didn't want to obey and so 45 minutes later Scott walked into a disaster and a very cranky family. We were all in trouble...the kids for making such a huge mess and me for falling asleep and not being able to get it picked back up.
I was so frustrated that day but now looking back I can laugh and just be glad that no one got hurt and that my kids are learning to be independent.
