I stand corrected....

Little Man (for no apparent reason): "Holy Mother of Science!"

I have no idea where he picked this up.

Correction: While getting the boys ready for bed this evening, Little Man heard me telling Wil the story and corrected me.

"No, mommy! I said, oh sweet mother of science!"

That's even better. It's still making me laugh. I have no idea where he heard it, but I have a feeling it's going to stick around for a while.

Jinxed

Last night Zee and I were talking about schedules, who would be home when and such, she asked, "you know that you can take a shower without another adult at home?" (first mistake). I do know this and I will leave the boys to take a shower, but I try really hard to avoid it. I worry about what they will get into, the mess that will be waiting or that my shower time will be invaded by two little boys (the most common result).

Fast forward to this morning. The boys had eaten breakfast and went downstairs to play. Zee has some time off and is home today, so we went upstairs to work on various cleaning projects. We were getting a lot done and commenting on how well the boys were playing (second mistake). Then the crying started. And escalated into screaming. Bug comes up the stairs with his hands over his face, screaming that "there's something seriously wrong" kind of scream. Within the next 90 minutes, I had:

• been on the phone with poison control 3 times
• spent 20 minutes with Zee and Bug in the bathroom, giving Bug an eye wash
• found empty bottles of Dawn, Windex and Clorox Green Works in the playroom
• tried hard not to lose it with Little Man
• cleaned copious amounts of soap out of the plastic train table with the hose
• tried again not to lose it with Little Man as he disobeyed me, following me outside through the opposite side of the house and then peeing on a tree
• washed off all of the toys which were covered in dish soap
• tried to clean the soap out of the carpet (unsuccessfully)

Luckily, Zee was home and could help. They picked the plastic train table. None of the stuff they got into was caustic and none of the bottles were full. Bug is fine and his eyes have cleared up.

Now I'm exhausted. This took all of the energy I had, physically, mentally, emotionally. And in the end Little Man didn't even get appropriately disciplined. There were so many things to deal with and I was so angry that I didn't feel like I could do anything without losing control. The toys that they "washed" are being put in time out. But by the time, I could deal with that part of it, the association between the action and the punishment was gone.

So how do you handle these issues? When you have to deal with the consequences of the action before you can discipline? How do you get them to understand (at 4) the seriousness of what they have done? Is there a Bearenstain Bears book for this one?

I'm at a loss.

There are days when I get caught up in the to do list... the laundry that still needs to be folded, the mess in the playroom that is beginning to take over the rest of the house, the list just gets longer.

Then there are days when I ask my boys' what they want to do & they say, "cuddle on the couch with you, mommy". My heart melts. It's now 11 o'clock. The laundry can wait & the mess will be there tomorrow. We're still in our pjs, cuddling on the couch... and we might just be here all day.