ahh what a day

I sit here on my couch listening to my children bathing themselves in a very bubble filled shallow bath thanking God that i didn't slip over on my newly washed kitchen floor after stubbing my toe on the cupboard.
Belle is crying because Mikey put bubbles on her head.
I call out for her to dry her eyes and just deal with it, they're just bubbles and the response is 'oh... ok mummy'

but of course this is the aftermath... it's not meant to sound bad.

This is what my day has been like today.

It all started this morning when we were outside... Belle and Mikey had let the dog inside and the dog had made a mess because she was wet and gross... so i sent them outside and mikey being mikey demanded i go too... there goes my plans for vacuuming... so we're outside.
I walked across all our concrete pathways discusted at the sand and dead weeds that were screwn all over the yard and decided to clean it up.
as i was cleaning... belle decides to drench herself with the fastest moving tap in our back yard.
she KNOWS it's fast flowing water... but of course she uses it. why? she wanted to wash her hands. so after a swift spank on the bottom i send her inside. while i'm doing this... Mikey decides hey my hands are dirty too... so he turns the tap on too... saturates his pants - doesn't actually clean his hands though because well... that would mean touching the water and he's not brave enough to do that when it's flowing from a tap. *sigh*

so we go inside, drenched, and i tell them it's bath time. so they're having a bath. and of course water goes everywhere including me... so now i'm wet too :( woe is me i hate being wet.

in between bathtime and naptime, anything comprehensible that you can think of to argue about, Belle argued about it with me. from things like...

she hurt her ankle... only... she was pointing to her elbow. so i tell her, hunni thats your elbow... 'NO IT'S NOOOOOOT!!!!!' and then crying starts.

then i decide to put the TV on to calm her down... so we're watching Handy Manny or whatever his name is - 'i want to watch the Wiggles' she says. I explain hunni you can't, it's not on TV right now 'BUT I WANT THE WIGGLES' i say a bit firmer, annabelle the wiggles aren't on right now, you need to wait for it to come on in half an hour - i even went through the TV guide and showed her where it was. nope not good enough.

then the sulking continued right through to naptime when i eventually caved and went looking for the frigging dummy that she'd been asking me to look for for over an hour. apparently she didn't want it enough to go and look for it like i asked, instead she demanded me to and quite frankly i couldn't deal with her waking Zoe up at this point so i just did it. yes i know. digging my own grave.

during nap time, Mikey and I sat in silence enjoying the peace in the house... i read the Ensign and he played on his computer.

After naptime the crap i mean... fun and games started again.

anything that annabelle could think of to cry or whinge about, she'd do it.

back to the original story... so... it was about 2pm... I was - ok honestly - ignoring my kids. Zoe and I were watching a movie on foxtel and Mikey and Belle were downstairs playing with a box of christmas decorations i'd pulled out for photos.
i thought, it's just tinsel and balls what can they do more than a mess and if it's keeping them quiet... i'll allow it.
so i looked down periodically and sure enough tinsel is being strewn all over the floor... but thats what a vaccum cleaner is for so i didn't care much and kept playing with my baby...

mikey comes running upstairs - OH NO MUM... BELLIE MESS!!!
i look downstairs... Belle had put permanent marker on the stairs. Where she found a permanent marker is BEYOND me... but she had it and there were nice lines on the carpet. so nice of mikey to tell me i might add, good boy for dobbing on your little sister.
so I get out my Preen for carpets and start working at this blasted stain - it got most of it out too on the first go. yay for Preen!
but while i was doing this, Belle decided you know what... i'm not done yet. so she went and helped Zoe make a huge mess upstairs with tinsel, toys... and a tomato sauce sandwich. woooooh for a nearly 3yo!!!!!!

"Annabelle!! what is going on!!!!!!" as i realise what she'd done. I send her straight to her room to just more or less get out of the way so i could clean, so her and Zoe are in their room while i clean up the mess in the living room... i go in 20 minutes later to find Talcum Powder all over Zoe...
WHAT THE HELL?!
omg... stress levels rising.... anyone see the Simpsons rip off the Shining? "urge to kill... rising...."

So i clean Zoe up and put them back in the living room... I decide it's a good time to vacuum downstairs and upstairs to clean up the tinsel... so while i'm doing this i put on the wiggles DVD thinking it was what Belle wanted so she'll watch it..

ahhhh hahaha how naive i was today!

I come up from vacuuming.... and Belle has the dishwashing detergent.

she's manage to squeeze out half the bottle onto the kitchen floor. thank GOD it was the kitchenfloor, not the carpet this time - apparently "we dont put stuff on the carpet" got through with all the cranky talk after she drew on it.
As im cleaning it up, i kick my toe on the cupboard, break my toenail and now it's bleeding... great! i curse under my breath that my day couldn't get any worse. of course it could but man i was sooooo worn out and ready to send the kids off to the orphanage.

After cleaning up, I sat belle down... just looked at her gorgeous little eyes, hearing her say 'please dont smack me' and i ask her - WHY did you do this. Why did you put the detergent on the floor.
she said because i make a mess, because i'm naughty, etc...
then i said again... Belle... Why did you make the mess... why did you put it on the floor.


And she said because i wanted to make bubbles.


somehow... the stress and anxiety completely disapeared... as i realised the whole day... she'd been trying to do things herself and not in a destructive i'm going to be a brat way... she just wanted to do it herself.

The Tap outside - she wanted to wash her hands
the drawing on the floor - she just wanted to draw on something and had no paper
the mess upstairs - she was probably just entertaining Zoe
the Talcum Powder - maybe she wanted to change Zoe?
and the Detergent..... she just wanted to make bubbles.

So here i am... still listening to them blowing the bubbles around in the bathroom just 5 minutes later... grateful for my nearly 3yo and her ability and desire to be independant.... even if it sends me bonkers in the process.