My Day With the Kids

So, yesterday my wife was out helping a family in the church that just had twins. In order for her to be freed up to be with them, it was best for all three kids to stay at home with me. In an effort to be the best dad to my kids I could be, I began to mentally prepare myself the night before. Upon waking up, these were my thoughts:

- Today will not be an easy day
- It’s unlikely that I will sit down very much
- There’s a good chance I will get thrown up on
- I will clean the kitchen no less than 3 times today
- Whatever you do, do not get your computer out. Your kids need the best you today.

So, I woke up at 6:30 and began my preparations for the day. Coffee on, milk ready for the girls, and milk thawed for the baby. This was not my first time alone with all three, but it would be the longest stretch.

We had a great day…my kids had my full attention and I really enjoyed my day with them. Upon planning for the day, I decided I would put one of my wife’s little “home maintenance” programs in place for the day. She has told me that she’s been trying to make sure the kids clean up their mess before they move onto the next activity or before leaving the house.

I thought that to be very wise, so I tried it out.

I must say it proved to be the tension reliever of the day. If you have toddlers, you know it takes about two minutes to wreck a room. I would turn around and there would be crayons and paper thrown everywhere after 5 minutes of coloring. Then they were ready to dress up and play princesses. Coloring was no longer satisfactory.

So I would tell them, “Ok, we’re not going to play princess until all the colors and paper are picked up.” It was like magic…”Ok papi, we’ll clean up.” We went through this process about 4 times during the day, cleaning the immediate mess before moving on to make another.

The whole day wasn’t about messes though…my favorite part was when Cash was sleeping and we went outside to wash the car. (Granted, there’s no reason to wash my heap of a Ford Escort, but it’s the smallest car and they feel they’re making a contribution to its cleanliness).

I couldn’t find a bucket, but we did have this big tub we keep toys in. It turned out to be the best thing since sliced bread. A “mini pool” if you will. Here are some pics of their time “washing the car.”