Explorations, experiments, and art projects

      
   
     During in church last week I looked behind me, and there they were; the perfect little family of eight.  Mom (Leslie Bess), dad, and six perfectly polished and well behaved children ages 12-2.  Then I looked at my family.  The two year old was drinking his sippy on the floor under our bench, the five year old coloring like a mad woman, the three year old with only one shoe and his tie off doing a little dance in his seat "I love goldfish, I love goldfish, I love goldfish."  Then there was my husband holding the wiggly baby that had just been trying to escape down the isle.  I looked at him and he looked at me.  I don't know exactly what was going through his head "what did we get ourselves into?!?" or "Save me, please, save me" but it wasn't the same look as the Bess parents sitting behind us as they listened quietly to the person speaking at the pulpit.
     I reflected on my week at I tried to calm the now crying two year old.  I bet Leslie didn't have to comfort her boys on friday because the morons decided that they would use their new sled to ride down the stairs (that aren't even straight!) and inevitably crashed into a wall and tumbled down the rest.
       Is it nature? Is it nurture?  Okay, so I know I don't have a quiet house.  There is a trampoline in my basement and I have allowed to my three year old to hit balls with his bat in the living room because it was too cold to play outside.  So maybe I'm not doing my job as a mother and my nurturing is all off!  But I swear they came this way, all four of my children were sitting up at three months, crawling between five and six months, and walking between seven and nine months.  I just have children that are excited about life! learners! explorers! adventurous!.... and total hellians.
     Now don't get me wrong, they absolutely love each other.  They are sweet and caring children.  There is not violence in our home, just lots and lots of action.  They play nicely, and can even play quietly.  However, it is usually in the quiet times I begin to worry "what are they doing now?!?" To give you a little taste of being a mother to four active children ages five and under, I composed a list.  I am sure I missed things, but basically one day I sat down and decided to write down all of their escapades (that I could recall) during the previous two weeks.  This list is by no means inclusive. Here we go:

1. Drew with pen on the leather interior of my van
2. Permanent marker on jeans and doors
3. Took off a poopy diaper and sat on carpet, then my couch- poop everywhere!
4. Uncooked oats dumped and thrown all over kitchen
5. Red crayon on my microfiber sofa
6. Broke my eyeglasses
7. Broke my ironing board
8. "Book bowling" with my decor from the bookshelf
9. Dumped OJ on playroom carpet
10. Threw rocks at my van
11. Dumped water from kitchen sink to the floor in cupfuls
12. Dumped water from the bathtub onto floor by cupfuls
13. Ruined electronic by "bathing" them
14. Burned holes in the living room carpet with the blow dryer
15. Pulled the handrail loose from the wall by tying belts around it and hanging (trying to make a ride?!?)
16. Threw golfballs at the TV
17. Pulled a dozen hairbows apart
18. Squirt out 3 tubes of toothpaste onto the counter, then finger painted on the mirror
19. Cut holes with scissors in 3 different shirts

      So thats about two weeks worth of explorations, experiments, and art projects.

      "Look mommy I've discovered gravity, when I throw oatmeal into the air it comes back down"

      "I drew this picture in permanent marker on your wall so you can have it forever!"

      "Mom, I created a NEW game!  Take all of your decorations off of the shelf,  line them up on the floor, throw some books, and try to knock them over!  Its book bowling!!!"

        Ok, so some of it was just an accident (i.e. hanging on my ironing board and breaking it). But I really don't think most of it was out of ill-intent, just stupidity.  When I had just one baby that would get into things I would tell my mother about it and she would tell me to go buy her more toys, "she doesn't have anything she can play with."  Well mom, whats the excuse now?  Giving my daughter credit, she had very little to do with the list presented above.  90% of it included my 2 year old, and about 75% included my 3 year old, but the baby and my daughter participated in very little of it.
      So yes, I spend my days doing the things you would expect of a mom; dishes, laundry, cooking, and of course I read and play with my kids. But an unfair amount of time is spent calming or fixing the havoc that was wrought on my house by my four little adventurers. But as I scrub, and pick up, and vacuum for the third time during the day, I cant help but think.... what does  Leslie Bess do with her day?