One of the coaches for the Nebraska volleyball team (they are number one and volleyball is *almost* as big as football around here) goes to our church. She has three kids. One is older--in my 12-13 yr. old Sunday School class. The other two are 4 and 2. Last Tuesday and Thursday morning I watched the younger girls. Granted, Caleb was at school for half of the time they were here. But, I had 4 kids under 4 running amok in my house.
Here are some of my observations.
Some kids can talk. Most of you know that Caleb isn't the best communicator in the world. If you'd like to hear any movie or commercial he's ever heard, that's great. Otherwise, nothing. Eva is getting a little more communicative. I can understand her grunts 80% of the time. 'More' and 'no' are her favorite words. And 'bye'. The two girls I watched can talk. Talk, talk, talk. "Why are you doing that?" "What's going on?" "Can I moosh up all this play doh in a big blob?" "Where's MiCaleb?"--they usually go to Kori's house on these days and she's got a little girl named Michaela.
I'm not very good at keeping track of 4 kids at a time. I was up fixing lunch and keeping the kids downstairs listening to music. The 4 yr. old came up and announced, "They're drawing on the wall!". Hmmm. Is it a coincidence that the day my kids decided to start drawing on the walls was a day that well-known wall artists were here? I don't know. But, I had blue marker on my yellow wall. I was too stressed to find a camera for blog purposes. I did think about it, though.
Later that day I found blue marker on my WHITE chair. Lovely. No amount off cleaners will make it back to normal. It was a hand me down, anyway. Luckily, I don't have nice things yet to really worry about.
Kids love to dance. Once I got them dancing, they stayed out of trouble. We had an excellent dance party and I was able to find the camera.
I'm not getting any more kids. I suppose nobody should really hold me to this because I may eat my words someday but I don't think I'm cut out to be a mother of more than two. Unless I have a live in nanny. Then, I would totally consider it. Or, I get pregnant. I would have to assume that is an act of God to make me temporarily fertile and who am I to deny this child that clearly needed to be born into my family.
Little girls are fun. These girls loved to play with dolls and pretend to be cheerleaders. That's right up my alley! The youngest kept going around saying "Go Huskers!". It was so cute.
I really did have a good time with these kids, all complaining aside. Caleb keeps asking if they're here as soon as he gets off the bus. Okay, they can come back anytime. I'm just hiding the markers.
The thing about having four children of your own is that they aren't all three years old at the same time. Supposedly they can entertain each other and watch each other - or at least get along better without you watching them closely all the time.
ReplyDeleteAt least that's what my mom tells me whenever I tell her that I'm done after only having two kids. You're a brave lady to take on that many toddlers. It looks like you had a great time though.
Catherine
It does get so much easier as they get older. 4 little ones do fill up any house to overflowing. The dance party was a stroke of genius.
ReplyDeleteDo you know how to get yellow highlighter off leather? Just wondering...
ReplyDeleteOuch! Sorry about the highlighter, Mary. I hear that's the worst. Cover it with a blanket or a pillow. Yep, that's it!
ReplyDeleteLOL fun fun!
ReplyDeletehave you tried mr cleans magic eraser? it may work. painting may take extra coats to cover up the marker depending on the color.
oh i forgot i have a hard time trying to get pencil off the wall. it's not eraseable with a regular eraser.. bummer! so hide all writing utensils and washable makers and crayons are a must.. the crayons come off walls and furniture pretty well!
ReplyDeleteWhere's the twelve year old when you need her? Yes, four kids....I thought I was just going crazy, but now I see it is really because I have four kids.
ReplyDeleteThe 14 yr old neighbor that used to come over all the time moved to Colorado! Oh well. He was almost as much trouble as preschoolers.
ReplyDeleteHey Christy!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I missed this one. Yes, magic erasers work wonders, not so much on white furniture....hehe. Those are the sweetest girls though. I bet they had a good time with your kids, and the walls.
Go Husker Volleyball! I get some games on ESPN out here. I agree, I think that two will be my limit as well.