Everyone was breakfasted by 7:30. And banished to the girls room to play while Mommy cleaned up in the kitchen. And put laundry on to start processing. But before I could get very far along in those ideas...I heard much wailing coming from the back of the house. Thomas was on the hall-way side of the door, and the noise was on the bedroom side of the door.
And the door was locked.
The girls were on the other side of that locked door, screeching because they couldn't get out. Let the day begin. I tried to get Sarah Grace to twist the 'belly button' on the door knob, but she was completely distraught and I was only wasting my breath. I poked around and trotted up and down the steps trying to find the secret to unlocking the doors in this house. Finally, I found the perfect little something to stick in the hole and release the lock. The girls came out all teary eyed, but otherwise unscathed.
I assigned them to play in the living room while I went downstairs to get my laundry. When I came back up, Thomas and Sarah Grace were giggling and rolling about in a pile of pillows and stuffed animals. Elizabeth was not to be seen. I glanced about for her as I made my way through the kitchen to the laundry area. And I stepped in a pile of grit. Ick. I dropped the dirty laundry in the washer and got it started then went back to examine the grit that I had tracked across the kitchen floor.
A trail of salt led out of the kitchen, into the dining room, across the foyer, into the office, out of the office, back into the foyer and into the living room. Where Elizabeth stood with a ceramic salt shaker shaped like an apple tucked under her arm. She smiled up at me and said 'Ah-pull? Ah-pull?'
I couldn't help it. As irritating as the clean up was going to be, she was so proud of herself. I just had to smile and giggle. Just a little bit. Plus, it was just a blessing she hadn't dropped the salt shaker and shattered it into a ga-jillion pieces, thereby endangering everyone's bare feet.
I hauled out the vacuum cleaner, but before I could start it up, the phone rang. Almost immediately upon hanging it up, it rang again. By then, my bladder was being pressed upon by the jumping bean in my belly. Before I could even get to the potty, the phone rang again! I had to let it go.
After my quick bathroom break, I vacuumed the front of the house and refilled the salt shaker. In the meantime, the kids moved half their library and their blankets and pillows into the closet where the vacuum cleaner is stored. So that when I went to put the vacuum away, I had to wait until they moved out!
And then the phone rang again. And the contents of that conversation caused me to need to make a phone call. As soon as that conversation was over, I found Elizabeth downstairs. As I was hauling her upstairs for her nap, the phone rang. As I was trying to change her diaper, the phone rang again. I finally got her diaper changed, and tucked her into her bed for her morning nap. Guess what happened? You got it. The phone rang.
It was only 9:30, and the day has already produced much cause for running around. Now I am sitting in my chair catching up on email and blogging. Thomas and Sarah Grace are watching Word World, and Elizabeth is sleeping.
Blessed are the quite moments.
2 comments:
and your recent comment to me--that's why we have voice mail!!--go pee-it will make you less uncomfortable!
This story exhausted me to read it!
Elias locked himself, Kindred AND Michael in the basement last week. There was no "belly button" to be released, and I was at work. Thankfully Michael had his cell phone in his pocket and was able to phone a neighbor to come and release them from their bondage.
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