During Thick and Thin

After some coaxing from my friend Sue, I am writing an article for the newsletter for MOPS this year. Not because I can offer advise or parenting skills, but because she enjoys reading the stories about my kids and thought that others will too. They will be able to relate with what I write because they are going through the same thing.

The first one I wrote was inspired by my college friend Liz on her blog Boy Crazy. She is very talented writer and you will enjoy the other posts she has as well. Thanks for the inspiration, Liz!

It was the start of Indian summer in the year 2006. A very warm one. We had a rough night with feedings and teething, so the girls and I had gotten up very late. Cameron (age 1) who is always so warm had opted out of wearing pajamas and was playing with some toys in her diaper.

We needed to eat an early lunch because Kaylee (age 4) was getting ready for her afternoon preschool. Looking in the fridge for bread (I know, it’s strange that I keep bread in the fridge) I realized I was out, but I did see some cookie dough. Loving to bake in the fall, I pulled it out and put a batch in the oven.

Looking in the cabinet for something to replace the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I was going to make, I spotted some saltine crackers. I love peanut butter on Saltines, so I thought I would make pb& j with these instead. Always resourceful, I thought as I mentally gave myself a pat on the back. I made 5 or 6 pb& j saltine sandwiches. I directed Kaylee to the table to eat while I started picking out her clothes for the day.

The cookies were starting to smell gooey and sweet, that is until Cameron entered their shared bedroom polluting the air with her full diaper. “Eww…Cam! Do you need a new diaper?” I asked rhetorically. I picked her up; set her on the bed, reached for a diaper before I realized they were gone. No worries though, I had more in the storage room downstairs.

I told Cameron to wait while I got one, forgetting the obvious flaw in this plan. She had no other clothes on and is a neat freak. While I was walking to the storage room, the phone rings. My husband asked me how my day was while I was grabbing the extra diapers. “We’re doing okay, but we are in a hurry to get to school.”

As I walked up the stairs I walk back to the kids’ room where Cameron was “waiting” when I noticed Kaylee’s plate of Saltine pb& j were almost gone. I asked her how she liked them and she said, “Look mom! It’s magic!” Sure enough, there those little sticky crackers were, all pulled apart, and stuck to the wall of the dining room. All except for the jelly ones that had started to slowly fall down the wall, leaving a trail in the same way snails leave trails on the ground when they move.

Still on the phone with my husband, he laughs which helps me not to blow it out of proportion. I take Kaylee out of the chair and tell her get dressed in her room while I change her sister.
Before we reach their room, Cameron has taken the dirty diaper into her own hands. Rolling off the bed, she had removed the diaper and was dragging it along the white carpet in the living room by the fastening tab. It was the second time that day in which I could compare something to a snail’s slimy trail.

I showed Cameron the clean diaper and said, “Time to change you!” Instead of complying, she took off running…with the dirty diaper. I followed her until I reached the kitchen when my nose no longer smelled the sweet gooey cookies. Instead it was replaced with an unpleasant charred smell and when I opened the oven out poured light grey smoke which quickly filled the upper level of my home. The smoke alarm started sounding in warning as I stood in the kitchen with the phone in one hand and a tray of black cookies in the other.

BEEEEP!! BEEEEP!! BEEEEP!!

I could tell that my husband had immediately regretted calling home and made some excuse of having to go. I stood there wondering whether to laugh it off, yell about it, or start crying because they were all feasible possibilities. However, it was that day that I understood the saying, “In the thick and thin of things.” This day was the part of motherhood that was “thick.”

However, now that my kids are a little older (Cameron is 4 and Kaylee is 7), I realize the thin of it as well. What possesses a child to take their food and stick it to the wall? With Kaylee it wasn’t really out of defiance, but how she was creating her own magic and satisfying her own curiosity. Chasing my littlest one around while in she is innocently sporting her birthday suit while simultaneously shrilling out of pure joy is a memory that was made on more than one occasion. When this happened, I was very frustrated; however, my kids were both happy and just being kids. Kids live a life that adults sometimes envy. So carefree, imaginative, and full of zest.

Did I have this revelation on the same day? Absolutely not. However, if you feel as though you are in the “thick” of it, I challenge you to look for the “thin.” I promise it is there.

(Picture taken at Fair Oaks Farm on a visit with Nana and Papa Zoerhof)