Deep breath in…deep breath out….deep…breath in…deep breath out. I can’t tell you how many times a day I verbally coach myself to just breath! There’s always something. A kid chunking a favorite toy over the fence into the pasture in hopes that it may give them clearance to expand their boundaries to retrieve it or shoving as many sticks that can be gathered into the septic access pipe; or maybe etching names on each side of my 2022 Honda Pilot fresh off the lot. You name it, we’ve experienced it here at the Henderson house.
My husband is currently out of town on a business trip, so it’s just the kids and myself at home. Teenagers are usually at work or football practice, so, most of the time, its just the two littles, A, and myself. Our routines pretty basic: come home, grab a snack, send littles out to burn off energy in the yard while I cook dinner, come inside, wash up, eat dinner, bath, and bed. Today was no different other than a quick trip to drop A off at church, but the boys and I were right back home, back to routine in no time.
“Please stop playing with your food”….”don’t talk with your mouth full”…”stop throwing food at your brother!”…. these are common phrases you may hear chanted across the kitchen the whole 10 years it takes us to finish eating a meal together. Tonight, my 6 year old thought it was funny to throw his fork down and shove as much food in his mouth as possible with his hands. <face palm> I mean, what are we?…animals??? All the while, the 4 year old is sneaking food to the dog under the table. breath in…breath out…———————————————I barely survive dinner without a mental breakdown, now we move on to bath time. The 6 year old has recently been a little more self-sufficient and has been taking showers almost unassisted. So, while he is in the shower, I run to the other bathroom and get the bath started for the 4 year old. I get him settled and go to check on the 6 year old in the shower. I get to the living room and the smell of tea tree shampoo hits me and its so strong, my eyes start burning. I run to the shower and this kid is mixing some potion with an entire bottle of Aussie I just purchased and half of a bottle of Tea Tree in the bottom of the shower! I’m not gonna lie, this is where I forgot my breathing exercises. I rinsed him off, threw a towel at him, and sent him to bed. He was only in there less than 5 minutes unsupervised…why do kids do this? I will never understand. Anyway, I go check on the other little man and this kid has flooded the bathroom splashing and having the time of his life. Did you know the back of the tub also doubles as a water slide?
Both boys are tucked away in bed, one asleep, one still fighting it. This mamma is going to clean up dinner, and go soak in the nice hot bath and practice my breathing so I can start all over again tomorrow.
breath in….breath out….
