Did I ever tell you I was one of 10 children? Yes? Well let me repeat myself, my Mother and Father had 10 children. Not, six from her previous marriage and four from his (or any variation on that math word problem) they actually decided to have--and followed through with the decision--10 children. I think I remember my Mom saying she wanted 11 children when she was a teenager. My parents divorced when I was 12 years old and my Mother remarried a man who had one daughter--so I guess my Mom got her wish.
Anyway, I do not have 10 children...and I do not want to have 10 children. I was tricked into having 5 children. I wanted babies. I love babies! But every. single. one of my babies turned into a child. I think they are all planning on turning into teenagers and then adults too!
It is madness.
Now, this week was spring break for my kids. We didn't really have anything planned so when my friend, Heather, called I was super excited to make plans. Too bad her plans were a little different than I was expecting. Heather had a death in her family and wanted to go out to the funeral. Her husband was out of town for work and unable to return in time. So I agreed (happily) to take five of her kids so she could go to the funeral.
Bring it on baby.
Heather has kids that all (pretty much) line up with my kids in age and gender. It is kind of dreamy. Her children are nice and helpful and like all of the entertainment diversions I can offer (TV). I knew it would be a cinch and it was.
First of all, I have two older children who I make work for me all the time. Heather has two older children and just like that, my workforce was doubled! Really, older children can be awesome. Lorien and Nicole took the youngest children out for a good long walk one day. The next day they took all of the kids (plus a neighbor girl) out for another walk to a rope swing in our neighborhood. At bedtime, Nicole got all of her siblings into pajamas and brushed their teeth (I don't even do that with my own children). After the kids got back from the rope swing adventure the oldest boys (Wyatt and Isaac) organized a big game of tag out in the greenbelt. Then they came in and asked for a pocket knife to do some whittling...I said yes. I also let them play with a gun...an airsoft-type gun (you can read a real cautionary tale about those guns here). They promised not to shoot anyone or cut anyone so it seemed like a no-brainer. Also, we are out of airsoft pellets so it was an empty gun. They managed to find two plastic bbs in the yard, loaded the gun and couldn't find the bbs again. So it all worked out.
Really it was great. When Will came home at the end of the first day (did I mention I only had all these kids for 36 hours?) he asked if it was just like home growing up. Truth be told I had no idea. Even though I am one of 10 children, I was never in charge of 10 children growing up. Additionally, with the spacing of my siblings, the oldest two were out of the house by the time the youngest came along so we never had 10 children in the same house at the same time. I just know our house was a fun mess all the time and we ate a lot of food. Both of these memories were triggered by my caring for 10 children over 36 hours. The house (which is never tidy to start out with) was kind of a crazy mess for 36 hours. I think I changed a dozen toilet paper rolls. My friend's kids did a great job of taking care of their clothes and stuff but my children took the extra company as license to move all of their toys out of their rooms and into every other room in the house.
And the food. Turns out 10 small people are hungry all the time. We had plenty but someone was always coming up to me to ask for more. I just kept on cutting apples and making pb&j. No one went hungry. Also, I think I helped them hone their hunter-gatherer skills. They found food I didn't even know we had. Heather dropped off a big batch of costco groceries with the children so I think most of their foraging was from that.
At one point I had my five children, Heather's five children and three girls from the neighborhood over. We had reached the saturation point with children. A bus load of preschoolers could have showed up and I wouldn't have noticed. It was fun and funny.
 |
| Adell and her counter-part climbing trees. |
 |
| Colter and his counter part fighting...there was a lot of this kind of fighting all weekend. Fun fighting. |
 |
| Part of the game of tag the boys organized. |
Here are all ten kids...kind of. The youngest two boys (Colter and his friend) are not in the picture so we have two of the three neighbor girls standing in for them. I wish I got a picture of all of them (neighbor girls too) it was crazy fun.
So I survived 10 children for a day, a night and part of another day. It wasn't so hard but I don't think I'll be permanently adding to our family ever. I've always been impressed with my Mother for raising all of her children and enduring the endless parade of kid crap--and this experience renewed my awe for her. I am really glad I got to help a friend (and even happier about the favor I get to hold over her head for as long as she is still my friend). At the end of 36 hours no one died, everyone got a good night's rest (the most impressive thing, really) and I didn't lose a child. I did lose one pair of boy's shoes. I am still looking for those...they will show up...maybe.
No comments:
Post a Comment