Two Steps Forward...One Step Back

On Saturday, as we were rounding the kids up to leave my parents' house after dinner, I told Ella to "hurry and get her panties on" because we had to get home. As I hurried on to go grab something, I could tell out of the corner of my eye that Ella wasn't moving. I turned to look at her and she was grinning from ear to ear. She started laughing uncontrollably...just the sort of thing a five-year old would find hilarious. "Mom! You should have said get my shoes on, and you told me to get my panties on!"

And so I did.

I wonder how many times a day I mis-speak either because I'm doing too many things at one time or because I'm thinking about something else while simultaneously speaking. (Clarification: the panty comment was from me multi-tasking, not because I was thinking about panties!)

It made me remember how my mother so often called us by the wrong names. I was called "Jen" probably as many times as she actually called me "Jana". When she called me "David" or "Andrew", I knew her mind was really somewhere else. We figured out rather quickly to target my Mom with requests for things that were usually "off-limits"--like watching tv on a school day, being done with piano practicing after 5 minutes, or grabbing money for the ice cream truck before dinner-- while she was reading a book or an article. She'd usually just nod her head and mmm-hmmm so we'd leave her alone--that was as much "yes" as we needed.

At least Ella finds humor in my errors. And that's worth something, right? What five-year old wouldn't laugh when I tell her to "turn off her violin" after her favorite tv show or to "finish her lunch" at breakfast. Or me telling her to get her coat on thirty seconds after I zipped it up myself. I feel a little silly talking about motherhood-induced lunacy when I only have two kids under my wing. I mean, it's certainly got to intensify with more offspring, right?

So in my defense, for those of you who don't, or no longer have young children in the house, you have to know that every day is a whirlwind. It's just the way it is. Making ANYTHING happen (making phone calls, cleaning, preparing meals, music practice, organizing, doing laundry, shopping...etc, etc, etc) requires significantly more effort because you're simulaneously: cleaning up messes so you can function, wiping noses and bottoms, keeping them out of stuff they shouldn't be in, searching for things they lost or hid from you, soothing and preventing injuries and of course, trying to enrich and entertain them.

I find when getting anything done, it's always two steps forward, one step back at our house.

For Example:

I may get dinner made, but I quite often have to step over the girls multiple times in the process and then pick up all of the drawer contents that were dumped out, afterwards.

I may get the girls dressed, but will have to search for articles of clothing in the process. A pair of Samantha's church shoes were discovered in a drawer of the buffet last night.

I may actually get around to putting make-up on that day, but will have to allow Samantha to carry, load and unload the contents of my make-up bag several times afterwards.

I may get a shower in that day, but I have to re-roll the toilet paper and pick up the contents that were dumped out from under the sink afterwards.

I may get to talk on the phone, but will be distracted by the children calling my name, locked behind the gate so they leave me alone long enough to talk (really, is there any other way?)

I may get to plan a menu, but will have to pick up the contents of the recipe book shelf afterwards.

So...Ella and (later) Samantha may deem me distracted and loony because I can't keep their names straight and instruct them to put panties on instead of shoes, but in my mind, I'm perfectly justified.