I was an ultra grumpy mother yesterday and even the smallest things that the kids did seemed to get on my nerves. First they were painting and Anjali had left one of her fat markers on the floor where the tip had gotten wet. I gave her a talking to and "punished" her by telling her that I would throw her favorite toy into the dustbin.
She didnt improve my mood when she said
"Sophia is my favorite toy. Throw Sophia!"
After some deliberation, we put the candyland near the dustbin to throw and then i figure sout that the marker was not completely spoilt and it you scribbles with it long enough, the ink came back. To be fair, I told the girls to take back the candy land, but Sophia, who had already been to investigate, had strewn all the cards on the floor, near the dustbin I told the girls to clean
"She did it, so she must clean", said Anjali.
Ofcouorse, that didnt help matters as I retorted
"And whose fault was it that the candyland ended up near the dustbin in the first place?"
Silence. She pointed at herself.
"So clean!"
And the girls spent a quarter of an hour, perhaps more sitting near the dustbin and sorting the cards. At the end of the quarter of an hour, a lot of sorting and unsorting had been accomplished and not a single card was in the box. When i enquired., Anjali said
"Sophia is messing up everything I do"
And Sophia said
"Anjali is not letting me do anything!!"
I dont know what the back story was, but at somepoint, Anjali threw down all here cards and the box saying
"I am not doing it anymore, she is always messing everything!"
I let it pass because I thought some effort had been made.
Then there was the matter of the living room floor which looked like a black swimming pool. I handed the girls two nappy cloths
Word of advice: Two girls with nappy cloths and a small pailfull of water is not going to make for a clean floor
Soon there was more dirty water on the floor than we had begun with although Anjali kept saying that
"We can see the white floor!!"
The floor simultaneously became a skating and slipping ground and Anjali began to run on the wet floor and slide down on her knees very fast.
I didnt want to make an effort, and I tried to join in, but was way too tired to do more than get my clothes full of paint as we rolled around in the floor.
When we were nearly done, the floor was whiter, but it was not the nappy cloths that did the cleaning. As Sophia so eloquently put it
"We are cleaning with our dyesses!!"
And then Sophia threw a tanrtum because I took away her dirty cloth and dumped her in the bath.
I had planned to take the girls snail hunting. We have 365 games toddlers play and one of the activiti9ies that interested me was to keep a smal farm. The container and the cover is ready, we are just missing the snails.
But with all the circus over the candy land cards and the painty swimming pool, it was bedtime before we could say Jack Robinson.
By that time, I was absolutely spent.
A quick story, milo and bed.
"I am sorry I was so tired this evening", I said, once the lights were off.
"Do you want me to tell you a story?", asked Sophia
"Do you want
me to tell you a story?", asked Anjali
They told me stories, both of which were worth recording, but neither of which i recall the word of. The last thing I remember before drifting off to sleep was Sophia sitting near me on the bed and cradling my head in her arms.
The last thing I remember feeling was gratitude, which, all said was a nice way to end the day.
Ofcourse, I was woken up in an hour as Sophia had had an accident on the bed and had to be cleaned, but thats another story.
Our Julia Donaldson farm was one of the casualties in the paint play. Its cardboard was soggy and had to be sacrificed, but I had gotten this from work and it made for great play
