Times to remember

Today was filled with so much emotion, our children swayed from extremely happy to extremely sad and back to extremely happy...over...and over...and over again. Luckily, I was able to keep my cool through most of it. I just keep thinking, if our house is this emotionally charged now, how will it be when they are teenagers? Here are just a few tidbits of drama from our home today:

Hannah (almost in tears): "I never get to do ANYTHING with Johnny anymore! He is ALWAYS reading!

Now, what should I say to that? He has been reading a lot, but I am definitely not going to get mad at him for reading. I am so proud of this little boy! A few short months ago, he had little desire to read for pleasure, especially chapter books. Now, half of his morning is spent reading (it's only frustrating when he tries to brush his teeth, tidy his room, and put his backpack on with his nose in a book.) He walks to the bus stop, reading, he reads on the bus; he reads at the end of the school day while walking home; and if he hasn't finished his book by then, he plops himself down on the couch and not a word is said until the last page is read. Sometimes he will go through two "big" chapter books a day. And to think that I was worried about his reading last year...tsk.

Tonight, while I was trying to get some baking done, Maddie and Lucy were fighting over a chair so that they could "help" me. The problem is that all of my supplies were in a small corner by our fridge where there was just enough room for me, and frankly I didn't feel like accommodating the help of two small girls. After about 10 minutes of wailing girls, I was at my wit's end. Then I realized that it was John's turn to put the kids to bed. Happily I handed Lucy over to him while I finished my batch of granola. Maddie, who was a big ball of tears just seconds before, became all smiles as I let her mix in the oil and honey. I just had to laugh as she put her hands in the sticky mess and said "Now I'm happy!" I'm sure there was a better way to handle that sibling rivalry, but at the end of a long day, sometimes I am just happy to survive.