Revised Expectations

By lunch time today I was in full fledged desperate rebellion. All I wanted was the stuff in the living room picked up. I was still more than happy to get on and do it myself, but without direction and planned activity the three of them were doing their best Wild Thing impressions. Stuff being pulled over, jumped off, tipped out, shrieking and laughing and rolling around on the floor together. Yeah it would have been kind of cute if it hadn't been getting in the way of me doing ANYTHING else.

So I went back to the Old Way - trying anything, anything, to get them to help me. Nagging. Asking for one thing at a time to be put in its place. Finding a big stash of said items thrown into the stairwell. Deep breathing to avoid yelling. Making a game of it. Laying off for an hour and watching it getting messier and more chaotic when I so wanted to do something OTHER than fret about the state of the house...

In the end I got some perspective with a cuppa and a packet of caramel rice crackers lol, the children made a tent in the hallway, and I got a little bit of the cleaning done - not enough to feel finished but enough to not be so stressed with them. Then I put on music, and read some stories, and forced myself to let go of the stress and the mess and the chaos and the control. Let go. Accept today as it is.

I really JUST wanted the floor clear enough to paint with them today. It's the third day in a row that I have ended up not able to do crafting or other fun projects with them because I've just been trying to do the bare minimum in order to have space. Our house feels really small some days! They just want to run and run and run and shriek. It has to be the lack of daily long bouts of fresh air!

Anyway, I think just turning music on this afternoon helped a bit. And as soon as Daddy walked through the door, guess what? They all just wanted to go play quietly upstairs with the train set. *sigh* Ah well, they've all gone out to find a lost Auntie now (trying to find our street) and Daddy will be the one hearing complaints about it being too cold and too slippy. They might even be tired and calm when they get back, you never know...

Meanwhile, I have been cleaning my silent house. I feel about a million times better. Tomorrow, I'm dragging them out in the ice whether they like it or not. And then maybe there will still be enough clear space in the living room to do some crafting. Or maybe not. I guess my goal for tomorrow will be just to roll with what IS, rather than crying over The Plan and how it never really quite works out how I expect it to...