Thursday, May 21, 2009

like mother, like daughter

I think every parent has traits, beliefs, traditions and habits that they hope to pass on to their children. I certainly do. There are times that I do things and hope that my children learn from example and follow in the footsteps of their mother. Not very often, but sometimes. This isn't necessarily one of those things.

I walked in the kitchen a while back and this was the scene before me. I knew exactly what she was doing and why she was doing it.

Look closely at the thing in her ear. It's an orange wire connector that has been in the kitchen for a while. I'll bet there isn't an ENT in the country who recommends sticking one in your ear, but I know why it's there. Have you ever had sensory overload when 3 kids are swarming around you telling you everything that comes to mind and asking you the same questions over and over? Me too! This occurs most often between 4:00 and 5:30 when I'm trying to make dinner and Adam isn't home yet. I think most mom's feel that this is the hardest time of day. It's probably why "they" created happy hour, but since I don't imbibe, I find other relaxation techniques. To ease the insanity I sometimes wear orange earplugs during the nerve grating time of day. I can hear everything, it just takes it down a notch.
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More often than not I have a dish rag or a cooking utensil in my hand and hopefully a fairly pleasant look on my face, just like Cecily. So I'm sure when she dragged her chair over to the sink and saw the orange connector, she knew just what to do. Stick it in her ear.
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Maybe tomorrow she'll do a few loads of laundry and drive Eli to school.
*Forgive the asteriks, it won't let me create paragraphs in the second half of the post. Dumb computers.

6 comments:

Anna said...

Ear plugs are brilliant. Sometimes you just need a little quiet. Well....quietER.

highdeekay said...

LOVE it! Even with just one, I sometimes need my own version of "happy hour." It is like I have my own little narrator for life and she just goes and goes and goes and I'm counting down the minutes until another adult is home while also trying to get dinner on so said adult is happily fed. The sad thing is that he comes home and assumes that the whole day has been irritating when really just the last hour has been. Perhaps I wouldn't be so frazzled if I had an orange thing in my ear! :-)

Emily said...

She is so cute!! Can't wait to see you!

Unknown said...

LOL!!
Gavin has been saying since we got home "Eli, Amy, Nate, Adam, Cecily come to gramma's!" Now it doesn't sound just like that because he gets so excited that he repeats everyones name in different sequences about 3 times before he gets the "come to gramma's" out. it's so funny.

tiff said...

Ear plugs. You're brilliant. I haven't heard a parenting tip this good since last fall, when I read about my friend wearing shooting ear muffs (big and yellow) to bed while her daughter was learning to sleep through the night.

Sally said...

OH MY GOSH! I am t totally going to do that! We can that hour the "five o'clock freakout" at our house. It is just crazy, but ear plugs are a great idea. (I actually have hearing damage from my kids, so the doctor may recommend it as well). I had no idea why we didn't think of it sooner :). Thank you!