The Negligent Mother

I do my best. Some days, my "best" is better than others. Today was a less than super day. Not because I was tired (I wasn't). Not because I was angry (the children were being well-behaved). Mostly because I was lazy, and in a hurry, and couldn't be bothered to put in more than the required minimum of effort.

It was 8:45am when I decided to feed the children breakfast. They don't eat when they wake up. They seem to need to ease into the day. That works well for both me and Dan. I wanted to get breakfast over and done with because I had to run out and do some errands sans enfants before Dan left for his shift this afternoon. I decided that I would make the girls breakfast, and have a shower while they ate it. Normally, I supervise all meals. I strongly believe that people should have meals together. No one should eat alone. However, today was the exception. I served each child a peanut butter sandwich with grapes and blackberries. I gave them their juice and put them in front of the TV to watch Mermaid Barbie or whatever DVD they had put on. I gave the twins strict instructions: watch the baby and don't kill each other. Everybody was happy. Dan was sleeping. I went upstairs to have my shower.

While I was in the shower, Sarah (the two year old!) decided that she would prefer to have cereal for breakfast. Instead of asking her father who was now wide awake and in the kitchen (but on my computer and, therefore, oblivious to everything else in this world), Sarah went into the pantry, chose the Corn Flakes, and brought them into the living room. Then she went back into the kitchen and brought the jug of milk to the living room. In full view of the twins and Dan (!!!), Sarah poured the milk into the bowl of cereal that she had prepared. She poured and poured and poured. She didn't stop until all the milk empty. It wasn't until the twins screamed and yelled at Dan that he snapped out of his computer-induced haze and stopped the baby (see why I leave the twins in charge?!).

Things like this happen every time I leave the room. This is why:

1. I can never, ever leave the children alone, and
2. I have only a loose grasp on my sanity