Messy days

Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate.
~Anonymous

I am starting with a quote today because it suited yesterday. Yesterday was one of those days.  You know the kind, where nothing goes quite as expected and you just want to throw in the towel and start over.  Or hope it ends quickly so you can have a fresh start.  Ours started with this:

Apparently we forgot to said goodbye to Dad.  Being the great guy he is, he drove back by so he could wave bye from the door. Then he and the dog camped out for a while just to be sure he was really going to work. 

Once we (more me than we) I decided to help out dear old Dad with some of the mounting to-do list in the back yard.  I broke out the cans of stain and went to town on the swingset.  I got everywhere I could reach.  The bees were not happy with me.  Preston played quietly while I did this.  That should have been my first hint.  He was too okay with me taking away the swingset for the morning.  Once I came back up to the porch (covered in stain) I realized why.  He was very diligently emptying one of my planters of its dirt. Onto the porch. I needed a shower, so I left it, and got cleaned up. 

In the eyes of a three, almost four year old, I guess if your mom doesn't pay enough attention to your mess, you attempt to bring it to her.  I come out of the shower and find him bring the dirt in. Yep, in the house. So in order to teach him that it is a pain to clean up, I give him the vaccum. I am beginning to feel like I am telling another version of If you Give a Mouse a Cookie.

He thought the vaccum was great fun, and got nowhere with it.  So I took over. He had noticed at this point that I was drained and holding onto my patience by the tips of my toenails. He went out to the porch to make an attempt at sweeping the pile of dirt. he manages to spread it across the porch instead of the pile it was in. Sigh.  I know he is wanting to make it better.

So I get the house cleaned up and head to the porch. I take the broom and wound his pride, causing the new 'tude he has been testing out to emerge.  I had no patience for it. We were both outside telling one another that we weren't happy. I know, productive. Once I get the porch cleaned up, I sit down to catch my breath. He comes in to pee.

Not two minutes later he comes out shoulders shagging telling me he made a mistake. I didn't want to know. I just wanted to be able to go inside, make lunch and put him in his bed for rest time. Poor kid. He had tried to redeem himself by emptying the vaccum canister. our trash can has a swinging lid, and swung all the dirt onto the floor. Deep Breath. Another one.

Needless to say, his lunch was hot cereal and pretzels. Not balanced at all. Kind of like our morning. I was relieved when he was in his bed though.  It meant I got to sit. Which is huge these days.

After rest though, we were given a reprieve and were invited to the park by two sweet little girls, and so we packed some drinks and snacks and hit the road.  We are probably the slowest walkers in Broadway, but after 20 minutes, we made it, and all felt right again. He had a great time with his friends, and I got to have adult conversation.  The morning was swept under the rug and forgotten.

We came home and had dinner, and ended the day like this.

Sunlight streaming, exhausted from our day.