Those Magic Moments

This morning when I came downstairs, the girls were perched at the island with an array of drinakable yogurts spread in front of them. Each of the eighteen (yes, you read that correctly, 18), containers had at least one straw protruding from its top. They announced with much enthusiasm: "Mommy! We drank ALL the yogurts!" I replied, with significantly less enthusiasm: "What do you mean, you drank ALL the yogurts?" To which they replied: "All the yogurts in the whole refrigerator!" We had just been to BJ's on Friday and had bought a package of 24 drinkable yogurts that were supposed to last for the entire week. And now they were all gone. Although, as I lifted each of the opened containers spread over the island, I noticed that few of them were actually "all gone."

I took a deep breath. It was supposed to be a cleansing breath to make sure that I didn't yell. It turned out to be a breath to help my lungs be even fuller so that I got a LOT of volume when I said "YOU DO NOT DRINK OR EAT ALL OF THE YOGURTS IN THIS HOUSE EVER AGAIN!!! YOU ONLY DRINK ONE (!) YOGURT A DAY!!! IF I EVER FIND YOU DOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS AGAIN, I WILL NOT BUY THAT FOOD FOR A WHOLE MONTH! AND NOW YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY YOGURT FOR THE REST OF THIS WEEK UNTIL I GO TO THE GROCERY STORE AGAIN. NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!!!" Whew. That felt pretty good.

I ate my breakfast, and drank my tea, and headed upstairs to start getting everyone showered and dressed to go to the circus. I ushered the girls into the shower with me and quickly scrubbed them clean and shampooed their hair with the brand new bottle of watermelon-scented kids shampoo that they had chosen at the grocery store on Friday. I was finished and they begged to stay in just a little longer to play in the water, and I was feeling benevolent and let them do so. I dried the parts of my hair that had gotten a little damp in the shower (today wasn't a shampoo day for me), and then went to tell Ryan to come up for his shower.

When I returned to the bathroom, I discovered that the girls had emptied the ENTIRE bottle of shampoo, the new shampoo, into their body puffs to make a "bubble shower." Now, if this was all that had happened this morning, I would have probably handled things a bit differently, but since we had JUST had the discussion about using up all the yogurts, I was no longer feeling remotely benevolent towards my daughters. I began shouting again. For a long time. Things were pouring out of my mouth that were so cliched that I cringed as I said them, but could not prevent them from coming out. As I pulled them out of the shower and wrapped them in towels and took them to their rooms I was saying things like: "there are poor children in this world who would be GRATEFUL to use special shampoo just ONE time, and you go and pour out a whole bottle to just PLAY in?!?!" and "the next bottle of shampoo I buy for you girls is going to be the kind that will REALLY STING your eyes when it gets in them!" and "how could you just throw your daddy's hard-earned money down the drain like that?!?!" and so on... as I carried their little towel-wrapped bodies down the hall and put them into their rooms and shut their doors. As I closed their doors I finished with a "don't you DARE open this door because I don't know how badly I may end up hurting you if I see your faces before I'm ready!" I guess I made my point, because not even Katelyn banged on her door or tried to open it, which is really amazing.

Ryan seemed to be enjoying the whole scene, taking it all in with the sick fascination we reserve for when we drive past car accidents. I guess it was nice to see somebody else on the receiving end of my anger, and to know that it was not directed at him (for a change!). He was being an angel child (thank goodness), and quickly took his shower and allowed me to put Eucerine all over his legs and arms without a single complaint (this is very rare). Quickly got dressed in a turtleneck and sweater, again without complaint which is rare because he generally dislikes layers. I wasn't sure if he was being so good because he knew the mood I was in and didn't want me to snap at him too, or if he was trying to be the "good" child.

After about 15 minutes I had calmed down enough to go to talk to the girls calmly about what they had done and why I was upset about it. They were thoroughly contrite, and apologized to both me and Kevin. And we put it behind us. In our house, we have the policy that once you apologize with sincerity, you are immediately forgiven (just like God forgives us). Of course, it is sometimes difficult to forget...

Later this afternoon, we were sitting together at the circus, and the performers were all parading around the ring in the opening spectacle, and I was given the gift of seeing the circus anew through the delighted eyes of my children. The looks of wonder and excitement on their faces, as they stared, enraptured with what was going on before them, helped me to forget the earlier events of the day, and to just live in the moment with them. It was one of those rare magic moments that we are blessed with as parents of young children. I was, am, grateful.