Messes

This has been a very long morning.  Emily called out for me at 5am.  Here I was all excited about getting an hour back.  I blissfully remember being all cuddled up with Josh in bed in the years before kids.  Sleeping till noon (or later) on Sundays.  I don't know if there are any studies about the physical and psychological affects of day light savings but I personally feel a huge psychological affect!  Something in my brain just gets all gooey at the thought of gaining an hour! 

Some kids may be willing to snuggle in the wee hours of the morning until the sun peeks up over the horizon.  Emily is not one of those children.  When she gets up, she's up.  She immediately asks for a juice and a Callou (PBS Sprout show about a four year old boy) or Ho-Ho (a character from Ni Hoa Kai Lan on Noggin). 

Jordan joined Emily at 6:20am.  They both crawled into the recliner for a not so cuddly cuddle.  Elbows, knees, chins, and bonked heads ensued.  I got them both a snack and water.  I transferred my blanket and pillow to the couch and proceeded to konk out.  They, being the diabolical harbingers of sleep debrivation, transferred to the couch.

Later in the morning, I was slurping my coffee and working on some assignments I had not realized I skipped until this morning (that's another story).  The girls had been gleefully playing in their playroom.  I could hear them talk to one another, singing, playing house, and with legos.  It was quiet for a long time but I heard whispering so I figured they were forming their sisterly bond.  Who was I to interrupt such a special time between them?  Jordan came out to the living room to ask me if she could have a drink.  There, on her face, the evidence of mischief making. 

"Jordan, what's that on you face?"  I ask suspiciously.
"Noth-fing."  she replies innocently.
"It's looks a lot like marshmellows," I respond.  I watch as her eyes open wide.  I can almost here her internal monolgue...how does she know?  I race out to the playroom.  And there, inside her canvas pink Disney Princesses castle with tunnel...spread all over the floor are the remains of a bag of Lucky Charms cereal.  A quick scan confirms what I thought, all the marshmellows have been eaten, leaving all the cereal peices.  SIGH!

"Jordan!!!!!"  I hear her run.  She hides underneath Emily's crib.  I tell her she has a 10 minute timeout and she's not to leave her room.  I have never dolled out a "grounding" like this before and I hear her whimper as I stomp back out to the playroom.  I immediately vacuum up the mess in anger (I do like to clean when I'm angery).  In retrospect, I should have made her clean it.

After 10 minutes I was calmer and went in to talk to her.  I informed her that because of her poor choices, I was taking away all her dress up dresses for two days.  She could earn them back by helping me to clean up the playroom.  Talk about messes!