Life with toddlers can be messy and unpredictable. Most days when Dan arrives home we talk about all the challenges of a day spent with a mouthy and stubborn "threenager", and his teething, needy, copy cat little brother. These days really are long. But on a particularly difficult day, as we sat on the couch after an extra rough bedtime routine, Dan challenged me to list the positive things that had happened that day. It was hard to get started, but once I did, the tension I didn't even realize I was holding in began to release. As I listed all the awesome parts of our day, I was filled with joy at the thought of being these boys' mama! What a blessing and a privilege to spend my days with them! The next day, I made a point to remain positive through the chaos...to not let negativity creep in and consume my day!! Though nothing particular special happened, it was one of the best days of my life! Seriously!
On this particular day, I hit snooze too many times and was woken up Caleb yelling from his room that he'd had an accident. When I got to his room, there was pee all over the room...he'd apparently danced around in a circle while going! Ha. He was happy to help clean it up, so I let him! {Thank you Thieves Household Cleaner!}
After breakfast, the boys voluntarily played together in their room {SCORE!} so I cleaned the kitchen...like moped the floor, and everything!! We had a few errands to run so I packed up the boys and headed to Target. While I typically try to get in and out as quick as possible so as to avoid any meltdowns, today we took our time! It really was enjoyable to let the boys check things out instead of rushing past a section to keep them from seeing what would surely bring on a meltdown when told we couldn't buy something! I even got them each a pumpkin!
As we were leaving the store I got a message that a friend was having a rough day and decided to grab her a coffee and drop it off. It was great to brighten her day, but even more as we were leaving her neighborhood I spotted this AWESOME playground and decided to stop {something I NEVER do!}. We had the whole playground to our selves, and it was GLORIOUS! I even hopped on the swings with the boys!
Once home, the boys snacked while I cleaned the living room...vacuum, dust, mop..the whole works! I felt like a ROCK STAR! We then headed back outside. They played until dinner time! Dug in the dirt, found a frog, picked flowers, and got muddy...literally! It was so much fun to watch them throughly enjoy this time together exploring instead of worrying about what needed done inside the house!
When they found the mud puddle, I couldn't help but let them play! And when Dan got home, I couldn't wait to tell him all about the fun we'd had!
As I recount this amazing, incredible, so good, very awesome day, I can't help but think "these are the days!" The days we'll look back on and long for in the not so distant future. I'm putting this here as a reminder. A reminder to be present and embrace the wild, messy, challenging season we're in! Here's to finding the good in ever day!
