Skip to main content

Little "Helpers"

I'm in the midst of baby naps being the only really productive part of my day.  I know productivity isn't the "most important" thing, but there are some chores that have to get done (i.e. bills) and some that I really want to get done.  The problem is, that while the girls are finally in a predictable nap routine, the boys have recently given up naps.  It was six-and-a-half glorious years, so I'm not complaining, but when they aren't napping they want to "help."  

I should embrace and appreciate that they want to be helpers...and I do.  But.  But they want to help with ev-ery-thing I do.  Sometimes...sometimes I just really want to do it myself.  Most of the time, it's much more efficient to do it myself.  I'm trying not to squelch the helping spirit, but I've got a muscle twitch that won't go away.  I think it's tension.  

This is how it goes: I am shoveling dirt. Sawyer loves to dig.  Sawyer asks to help.  I'm trying to level a space.  I ask him to wait.  He starts to dig a few feet away, he can't help himself.  He slowly inches his way closer, chatting all the while, until he's standing in my shadow almost directly on my toes.  Deep breath.  I move.  He moves.  I move again.  He moves again.  This isn't working.  I take a break.  He takes a break.  Deep breath.  

I'm cooking lunch.  Fischer asks if he can do it.  I say, "Not now, I'm trying to be quick."  Fischer picks up the spoon I just set down and starts stirring for me anyway.  He sloshes what was going to be lunch all over the counter.  He feels terrible. Now I'm cleaning the counter and starting lunch again.  This is not quick.  The muscle twitch gets louder.

Sometimes they really are helpful, and I want them to continue to be excited to help.  I also want to keep them involved and teach them all these skills because I know someday it will pay off.  But I also want some "me" time to just sweat it out over a posthole digger.  Balance.  We are trying really hard to learn balance.  In the meantime, this twitch...        


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fear Factor

 Did you know that it has been not  scientifically proven that a baby can smell her mother's presence through a closed door.  It's probably the smell of fear that they are actually attuned to, but nonetheless.  I hold my breath and walk on tiptoe past the baby's room and still get busted nearly every time.  My fear is pungent. Besides waking the babies, I have another fear currently in the forefront of my mind.  Don't mind me, this is just another episode of True Confessions.. .  Here it is: the boys are getting so much outside time that they are building up incredible endurance.  It's great really, but it is   becoming  so hard to wear them out. It used to be an hour at the playground and we were golden.  Now, they basically put in an eight-hour workday, and it's just a warm-up!  Does anybody have a treadmill....?  Real school is going to be a bit of an adjustment for the big guy next fall.    Speaking of s...

Reflecting

It's August. I guess I can stop waiting for that call from the Oregon Department of Education.  It appears I didn't earn teacher of the year after all.  I wonder if it had something to do with my mask policy?  It definitely could have been the mask policy.   Personally, I thought the duct tape worked great.   *Sigh* It was probably the mask policy.  You win some.  You lose some.  Better luck next year.   Speaking of next year, we are trying a hybrid homeschool program.  Sawyer gets to go to school twice a week and learn at home the other days.  I'm confident he will fall in love with his teacher in the first eight minutes.  She is young, cute and very enthusiastic.  It's going to either make him work really hard or be a complete distraction.  Either way, on the "home" days, I'm going to make her look really good.  Pajama Mama is neither young nor cute and I'm rarely enthusiastic (which may have als...

Not Ready for Those Birds and Bees

 It's spring.  Officially.  But unofficially it's been looking a lot like spring for the last few weeks.  Trees are starting to bloom.  Wildflowers are popping up everywhere.  The birds are singing in the mornings.  Deer are running through our yard constantly, and the turkeys are everywhere.   Last week we almost hit a turkey that was in the middle of the road.  I'm usually pretty cautious but this guy was at the crest of a hill, and I couldn't see him until we were right up in his tail feathers.  It didn't help that he wasn't making any attempt to get out of the road.   "He must be hurt," I told the boys.  "It looks like he's been hit by a car.  He is acting really weird."   We crept by him in the opposite lane.  I had nothing to dispatch him with and wasn't about to use my hands, so I wasn't going to stop.   As we passed Sawyer shouted, "And he's even got another turkey under him!" Oh....