I love that my children are creative. I often feel like God made me their mother because he knew that my creative spirit would understand some of that creative chaos and that I would be able to see them as he sees them; that I would embrace their creativity rather than squash it out of them in order to have them fit inside the box. And then I have days where I wonder why in the world I am driven to collect junk to become my art; I wonder why each simple school assignment needs to be turned into a work of art and I wonder WHY children never tire of doing 'experiments'.
I can't remember the last time I laid down to take a nap. Honestly, I know it was before Clark was born for sure and he is almost 2 now. However, yesterday we had an earlier church meeting and were all home just after noon. We ate dinner at 3 and the dishes were cleaned up and everyone was helping to pack yet more boxes. When I ran out of boxes to pack things in I realized I was exhausted so I laid down for 15 minutes. It felt wonderful. I think my bed is softed during the day than it is at night. Or maybe its all that extra space with no children trying to climb in and the light bouncing off the angles of the ceiling. Either way, it was a great power nap. When I came downstairs my three oldest children were having a great time. They had made themselves 'experiment dough', colored it and were happily stretching and playing with it. I admit, my first thought was 'seriously? that was 15 minutes? could you by chance just be reading a book or playing quietly in your bedrooms?' I asked them why they chose not to seek for permission and you get the idea.
Then I remembered that they are awesome kids and that they did do a pretty good job. They did get out the craft mats and they did take them OUTSIDE onto the table on the deck. I had to admit, that was pretty nice to consider that outside was a good place to play with this goo. They did have a great time with it and they did clean it up and wash all the dishes and mats. So really, how upset can I be? Once I realized that they did a good job and that the intention of their hearts was to let me take a breather without being bothered, I just went and got the camera.
This mothering business sure does teach me a lot.
I can't remember the last time I laid down to take a nap. Honestly, I know it was before Clark was born for sure and he is almost 2 now. However, yesterday we had an earlier church meeting and were all home just after noon. We ate dinner at 3 and the dishes were cleaned up and everyone was helping to pack yet more boxes. When I ran out of boxes to pack things in I realized I was exhausted so I laid down for 15 minutes. It felt wonderful. I think my bed is softed during the day than it is at night. Or maybe its all that extra space with no children trying to climb in and the light bouncing off the angles of the ceiling. Either way, it was a great power nap. When I came downstairs my three oldest children were having a great time. They had made themselves 'experiment dough', colored it and were happily stretching and playing with it. I admit, my first thought was 'seriously? that was 15 minutes? could you by chance just be reading a book or playing quietly in your bedrooms?' I asked them why they chose not to seek for permission and you get the idea.
This mothering business sure does teach me a lot.
So glad you grabbed the camera! My sister had the same reaction when she found her 9 month old crawling through black paint that her 2 year old got into while she left the room for a couple of minutes. http://bowbenie.blogspot.com/2007/08/one-memoriable-day-while-i-was-painting.html
ReplyDeleteThis is a tremendous struggle for me -- I get really uptight when there are messes involved, even supervised ones. I need to take a lesson from you.
ReplyDeleteYou are a such a good mom!!! I need to take a lesson from you too and learn to step back and relax better!!
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was "At least they did it outside." Then I read that you felt the same way. Your kids are great and so are you.
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