Send Reinforcements!

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon. You know the kind I'm talking about. The perfect kind.

The cat was napping under the crib.

The dog was laying in the hallway just because she could.

She could lay in the hallway undisturbed because the older children were all outside playing.

The Greatest was in his happy place

digging in the dirt.

Now he will tell you that digging weeds out of what we call the "poop rocks" is not his happy place. But I know him better. He is happiest outside digging in the dirt. Even if it is digging in the poop rocks.

I decided with the rest of the family occupied I could sneak in some blocking. Since I still had the baby to take care of I knew this would require multi-tasking. But multi-tasking is all I do all day. Making breakfast while I pack lunches and style hair. Talking on the phone while I fold laundry and supervise homework. Cooking dinner while I hold the baby, referee death matches between the middle two children and juggle flaming knives. Alright, that last one might have been an exaggeration but it certainly feels that way some nights. Certainly one Mommy can handle one baby and some wet wool. Right?

Well...

At first she was the perfect baby. As I put the wires in the knitting she sat quietly on my lap and talked to me. Sweet baby babbles with lots of her favorite word "gubba." Parenting bliss. I wish I could take that moment, wrap it in tissue paper, and pack it away. Then when she becomes a teenager with hormones and pms, I could take that moment out and fondly stroke it, remembering better times. It was one of those moments. She can be the sweetest baby ever.

Then I began pinning the wires in place. She decided to "help." At first she held the pins for me while I placed them in the wool. Then she decided I was doing it all wrong and she would have to fix it. For every pin I put in she repositioned two, carefully placing them in the middle of the sweater pieces instead of along the edges holding the pins in place. She thought they looked better than way and was very angry when I rearranged her work.

In addition to her angry screams, she further underlined her displeasure at me by going in a corner and pooping her diaper. She then

played with the unused blocking wires.

rearranged my bathroom cabinets.

crawled down half a flight of steps and read some books.

crawled back upstairs into her room where she decided she does not like pigtails and would no longer wear them to amuse me.

It might have been worth it, because the sleeves are now peacefully drying.

Picking up her messes weren't too bad. Compared to what the middle two have done these messes seemed hardly worth the effort. Where was the shaving cream? But then I got to the poopy diaper. Oh My Goodness. She is the stinkiest pooper ever. I need reinforcements.