Epilogue

This is the rest of yesterday's morning's story, and again, I am on borrowed time. We will see if I finish!

Things have been even crazier than usual at our house lately. I just feel like we are off kilter. Yesterday morning was no exception. While I was typing, I could hear the boys playing in their room, so I knew my time was limited. What I hadn't expected was for the dogs to be the first ones to get me moving.

While I was typing, I heard Max making that wonderful heaving sound dogs make right before they empty their stomachs. And sure enough, Max was staggering around the kitchen. For the record, almost our entire house has hard flooring, and we just have a few small area rugs. Every time Max gets sick, he goes straight for the area rugs. Maybe his paws want a soft place to stand? Anywho, yesterday was no exception. I put down the computer, ran to the kitchen, and arrived just in time to witness him vomiting all over the entire rug.

I get Max outside, and I start cleaning. That's when Ree comes in and says, "Can we play a game now?" and she wasn't really asking as much as telling. We have pretty predictable Sunday mornings. I get her up, and then I get her brothers up. (I have learned the hard way to ALWAYS get Ree up first even though Leon and Michael may wake up an hour and a half before she does. ALWAYS.) We sit on the couch and read a book or three. Then I make breakfast. If I am cooking hot food, they get to watch a show on PBS or a DVD while I cook. If not, they help set the table for cereal or instant oatmeal. I can't recall ever playing a game first thing on a Sunday morning.

Ree is also blindly walking through the kitchen toward me, so I immediately say, "DON'T STEP ON THE RUG!" Realizing that, perhaps I could be kinder, I stopped and told her good morning in a more gentle tone. She asked about the game again, and I told her we will discuss it after I get done cleaning the rug. The second I finish scrubbing she asked, "Now can we play a game?" At that point I hadn't actually agreed to play, and I was clutching a plastic grocery bag of paper towels and other fun stuff. I was so confused by the demand, I found myself saying, "We will play after I throw out the bag and wash my hands and let the (yelping) Max back in."

So all those things happened, and we played a game on the computer. At that point, before she could even ask for more, I told her I needed to get Leon and Michael up. So she asked if they could play a game with us. I told her no, but somehow ended up settling on watching one video on YouTube with everyone. When that video ended, she started crying because we weren't watching three princess videos. Huh???? I love five-year-old girls, and all their wonderful, mini-teenager behavior. The only thing that gets us through is there was a little girl in Ree's preschool class who acted just like this last year. Then, she showed up at Ree's birthday party in August as this wonderful, polite little six-year-old. Yes, we are back to false hope.

And despite the weird start, we did actually have a good day.