Trying to Help

"Can I help sand the floor Daddy?" "Can I ride on the sander?" "No, Daddy turn it off It too woud (loud)." These questions/comments were fired off as Dan attempted to start sanding the hardwood floor. When we were considering buying this house, my husband and I talked about how easy it would to do the work together while the kids played. I don't recall drinking or taking any drugs during this conversation, but my mind must have been somewhat altered to have had such absurd thoughts.

I have attempted on several occasions in the past few weeks to take the girls up and help Dan. some times have worked out better than others. Today was not one of the better times. There is something about this house that stirs up my daughters' voracious appetites. It doesn't matter that I fed them a snack and a meal before we left our house, as soon as we walked in the door my oldest immediately asked for a snack. She does this often and I tell myself not to get upset, she isn't doing it to annoy me. Maybe she really is hungry? Instead I yell "I just fed you 10 minutes ago, no you may not have a snack." I dropped out of the "Mother of the Year" competition last week, so I figured I had nothing to lose.

I asked Dan what I could do to help and he suggested I go outside and use the weed wacker to subdue the jungle that we are calling our front yard. The girls wanted to watch me, but it's too lound for them. They asked me if I can weed wack with the weed wacker off? I tell them no and a few tears are shed. They are plied away from the excitement of the weed wacker with the promise that they can watch Dad sand the floor. This machine is also too loud for my youngest, so she is upstairs coloring with my mom who stopped by for a few hours to help. My middle daughter is excited because she gets to ride on the sander. My oldest daughter is a little upset because she doesn't get to "drive" it. The excitement of the sander lasts for about 10 minutes and then we all shut down work because grandma is leaving and they're all in a dire need of a snack (by now it's been almost 45 minutes since they've eaten.) I get them a snack and let them watch a DVD on our portable player. They argue and cry about what movie to watch. The youngest one wins out because she is yelling louder than the other two " I want to watch the Princess and the Pauper. NO, I want to watch the Princess and the Pauper!" (which brings me to my greatest parenting tip. Give in to the one who is yelling the loudest) --just joking, well kind of. The little one ends up watching the video while the other two go out and play Hide and Seek. I had to break up two fights, help find my middle one who was hiding in the drainage ditch, and locate the first aid kit for a bandaid and itching cream. We may have discovered poison ivy.

So needless to say I was not much of a help to my husband. He ended up having to come home early in order to help me put the kids to bed. I gotten really tired and hadn't gotten any snacksd and was having meltdown. Maybe tomorrow will be better. I'm going to try and go up first thing in the morning. They usually do much better in the morning.....