Turns out it's quite a challenge to handle three little ones at once. No surprise there, really. But it's also a lot of fun, and leaves me without any of those moments of boredom that can sometimes creep in on a quiet day with Daphne. As an example, let's look at how lunchtime went today:
The 4-year-old announced he was hungry, and the 2-year-old chimed in with a "yeah!" so I mentioned I'd start getting lunch together. Before I could make it into the kitchen, they were both sitting at the dining room table ready to go. So I set them up with applesauce, fetched two spoons, plopped Daphne in her high chair with a handful of Cheerios, and headed into the kitchen to prepare the main course.
About 3/8 of the way into making two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (so, halfway through spreading the jelly on the second sandwich but before touching the peanut butter), Daphne starts wailing because she's decided she's too close to the other kids and too far from Mommy. I talk to her from the kitchen while I finish the jelly and tackle the peanut buttering, then cut the sandwiches in half, deposit them on the table, and bring the high chair into the kitchen with me while I get the rest of lunch ready.
I pop a piece of leftover lasagna in a pan to heat up because we have no microwave and get to work butchering a mango. Daphne is eating the chunks as fast as I can cut them, and I realize the lasagna is smoking because the water I put in the pan steamed away already. Add more water, cut more mango, grab a plate for the lasagna, and head back into the dining room with Daphne and high chair in tow.
Meanwhile, the 2-year-old has decided that she wants to eat her applesauce on her sandwich, so she's spooned most of the cup of applesauce onto the bread, at which point she licks it off. There's also one bite gone from each half of her sandwich. The 4-year old has eaten one of his halves of the sandwich and still hasn't touched his applesauce. I dig in on my lasagna and give little pieces of it to Daphne. I try to encourage the 2-year-old to eat her sandwich, not just lick applesauce off it. But I guess it's fine as long as she gets full at some point.
Turns out Daphne really likes lasagna, because she's eaten about 1/4 of my little piece, which is all we have left. I speed up a bit so I can tell her it's all gone next time she finishes the pieces on her tray. I chat about this and that with the older ones, and then Daphne and the 2-year-old finish lunch at about the same time, both with incredibly gunky hands and faces. I head into the kitchen to get wet cloths to wipe them off. The 4-year-old also announces he's done and asks to be excused. I wipe off the little ones, get everyone down from the table, and realize I'm still hungry. Oh well... it's on to the next game, which involves riding large pillows across the floor.
So you may be wondering how I am writing this all now with three little ones underfoot. Call it beginner's luck or call it mad skills, but all three of them are napping. Now to head downstairs and get the rest of my lunch and tackle some of my writing that pays!
 |
| Little Miss Avocado-Face after dinner sometime last week |
