Summer scramble

Its the most wonderful time of the year .... I keep singing that song to myself, even though a Christmas jingle, I am trying to remind myself why we look so forward to summer, make so many plans for summer and complain that its too short. We as Canadians seem to have this love/hate relationship with this season: its too hot, its too cool, it rains too much, it doesn't rain enough, there are bugs!

We are in the midst of a heat wave which is pretty typical for July in the GTA yet I find myself thinking, not going as far as actually verbalizing, why is it so hot? When is it going to cool down? The difficult thing with this weather is it so beautiful outside yet you cant go out an enjoy doing much or for very long, which leads to many meltdowns and tantrums from the kids. I am happy to wait out the wave indoors with air-conditioning and a cool drink but the kids have no interest in that whatsoever. Even some of their scheduled activities have been cancelled or postponed due to the weather, all fostering an environment of highly energized kids with energy to burn being thrown off their routine.

So three kids under 5 and what to do? I try and start with the least messy activities and hype up how fun these are, but who am I kidding, these kids live for things that are sticky, messy and create the most clean up possible for me. I try music and singing, they laugh and bop around for a few short minutes, looking at me like this is the musical interlude before the main show. Thats a wrap.

Lets try making something like cookies or muffins, its easy, they are excited to stir and crack and egg, its moderately messy but a quick clean up and should take some time to do. I picture them waiting in front of the oven for the entire 30 mins it takes to bake with huge anticipation watching the goodies rise and form into a treat for them to eat. Halfway through the mixing an egg is smashed on the floor, the youngest obviously thinks she should be served food only and not have to make it, my oldest is standing on the island with a handful of dough and I quickly realize this is going downhill, and fast. Ok, scrap the cookies, throw the whole experiment in the sink for later.

Colouring and stickers, great idea! I remember as a kid loving the stickers that smelled like something or the ones that were fuzzy feeling and spending endless time peeling and sticking, peeling and sticking. I grab the industrial size bag of mixed stickers, some paper and we are good to go. One of them asks for scissors to cut before peeling and sticking, I think ok, why not, lets get creative. Immediate fight ensues over scissors. So I grab two pairs for older kids and one for me to cut Piglets paper. I am fully engrossed in cutting something amazing for her when I look up to see all the paper cut into the smallest of pieces all over the place, stickers dumped out, backing peels strewn about and the older two about to play swords with the scissors. I don't remember it quite going like this when I was a kid. I call a truce in the sword war and confiscate the weapons. The paper is flying like confetti and I manage to sweep it in a pile in the corner to deal with later.

My son has a great idea....painting. I try to negotiate with this kid like a trained hostage negotiator pulling out all kinds of tactics but the numbers are gaining on me, in very quick order I have three chanting something about painting and revolting, or revolting then painting. I am not sure which order but either way it sounds bad. I tell myself, they have gotten some energy out and they will enjoy this, as a good mother I will let them paint....on my fabric parsons chairs, yes I will let them paint...with makeshift aprons randomly tied to them not really covering any clothes, yes I will let them paint...the paint cant be permanent right? Oh no, which paint did I buy, is it the easily washable kind? I am sure it must be, why would they sell kids paint that isn't easily washable, I mean, all kids related products should be washable, a well crafted skill of all kids is to spill, isn't it? The bottle isn't saying that it is washable, but then my glass-is-half-full-side of my brain is saying, well its not saying it isn't, so maybe it is. Regardless, I am in this deep, the chanters are right at my heels, they are not going to take no for an answer. Paint in cups, brushes in hand, paper taped to table and kids vibrating with excitement. Ok lets paint. Within seconds water and paint is spilled, someone has touched someone else's paper which makes it null and void and a new paper is required ASAP. A little paint on ones face, agh isn't that cute, A little more paint on the face, thats a little too much but I will wipe it later. Ok thats now alot of paint on her face. As soon as I wipe that off I notice some paint is on their clothes now, no big deal, I will throw that right in the wash. Ok thats a little more nothing to panic about....ok thats going to be a "just at home" type of shirt now even though they have worn it only a handful of times. They are having a ball and coming up with some crazy explanations of the blobs of paint on the paper, they see things in the abstract and I immediately appreciate the youthfulness and innocence they see through their eyes. Bang. That couldn't be....yep it is. One container of paint has fallen off the table and landed right on my chair. With a smile on my face to reassure the kids their art is the best thing ever I grab a cloth and start to scrub, and scrub and soon realize, this is in no way washable paint. Its actually the reverse, its more like permanent paint. I am in the middle of a silent meltdown over a fabric chair when one of the munchkins holds up their work of art and says "Mom, I made this just for you, I hope you like it". In an instant I could care less about the chair, about the huge pile of cut up paper, about the sink full of half made cookies and about how my kids look like they are wearing head to toe camouflage paint. Of course I love the picture, or the paper with about five pounds of paint on it. The canvass is immediately put on display in the most in demand spot: the fridge. Two others flank it in minutes and the painting party is over.

Its about lunch time now and after somewhat getting the paint off of them they sit at the island looking at me talking about nothing really but its the best sound ever. They put in their requests of what they want to eat; cheesy noodles, cucumber and fruit. Within a few minutes I whip up a package of Annie's noodles with cheese sauce, a local cucumber cut into rounds and for dessert a sweet watermelon and grape kebob. They eat pretty much everything and I get them to sit and watch a show for a few minutes so I can clean up and have a few minutes to refocus. As I look around my kitchen I see whats left of the  things we did that morning and hope that even if they don't remember this exact day that they remember about these types of days. Having fun, making a mess and being healthy. The things I fed to them were things they liked which made them happy, they were also all organic, which made me happy.