I'll readily admit that my studio is a total mess. Between design team obligations, CHA assignments, family activities and magazine assignments, I don't have much time to clean. My studio has become a sort of dumping ground for random stuff and it was starting to get to me. I was feeling those teetering piles start to collapse on the small space that I had reserved for creating.
So...today I decided to stay home and tackle the Button-Flower Project that had been ongoing for about 6 weeks. This was my goal: organize my buttons and paper flowers by color in pretty glass containers and place them on my shelf. This way I could find exactly what I needed when I needed it; instead of rummaging through big buckets of buttons and flowers for just the right one. I was almost done with this grand adventure and I thought that Lyssie, Quinn, Wyatt and I could spend a lovely hour working together, learning colors and sorting to our heart's content. Wouldn't that be fun? I thought.
Well...our organization/color learning/sorting hour ended up turning into two sessions of extreme patience (on my part) and kinda fun (on the kids' part). Let me give you a few select excerpts from the transcript of the two sessions to give you an idea of how lovely these mother-children times were. No colors were learned during either session, by the way.
Session One (length about 24 minutes)
Me: Okay, button helpers. Let's put the buttons into the right buckets. Reds with reds, greens with greens...
Elyssa (E): Oh Mom! Look at this beautiful pink diamond! Can I have this pink diamond?
Me: Put it in the pink bucket and you'll always be able to find it. Quinn no spitting.
E: (sad face) Ohhhh. But I love it.
Me: Yeah, I know. Quinn stop putting the buttons in your mouth. That's yucky. Do you know what color this is? (holding up red button)
Q: Blue
Me: No, it is red. Let's put it in the red bucket. What color is this one? (holding up blue button)
Q: Yeddo
Me: Almost, blue. Can you find the blue bucket? (Q puts it in the red bucket and I fish it out.) What about this one?
Quinn (Q): (snorting back mucous) I have yucky nose.
Me: Yes. It helps to blow into a tissue. Let me help you. (Failed attempt to teach how to blow a nose. By the time I'm done, I need a tissue too.)
(4 minutes pass)
Q: Dis is pink!
Me: (excited) Yeah! Good job! Put it in the pink bucket. (Q throws it into the yellow bucket. I fish it out.)
Wyatt (W): (starts to cry)
Me: Wyatt..what's the matter? Quinn stop kicking the buttons all over the room. Lyssa, you are doing a great job!
(2.5 minutes passes)
E: Mom! Look at this pretty purple flower! Ahhh! (shrill scream) Quinn just spit on me!
Me: Quinn, no spitting! Do not eat the buttons. Wyatt, are you tired? (still crying, harder now)
E: Mom, look at this beautiful green diamond! Can I have it?
Me: No. Put it with the greens. Wyatt are you ready for your nap? Quinny, stop banging the lids together. You'll break them. (W crying uncontrollably now) Okay, I think that I'm going to put baby Wy down for his nap. Lyssie and Quinny, would you like to play upstairs for a bit while I feed Wy?
E, Q: Yeah! (everyone runs upstairs)
45 minutes passes while I feed Wy, then fold some laundry
Session Two (slightly longer than session one)
Me: Okay, let's go do the buttons again! (enthusiastic, but wary)
E: Yeah! (true enthusiasm)
Q: Yeah! (true enthusiasm)
E: Ohhh! Mom, here's a sparkly pink heart! It's so sparkly I'm going to die! Can I have it?
Me: No.
E: Ahhhh. But I love it!
Me: I know. Quinn stop kicking Lyssie.
Q: I want PB!
Me: PB is in the living room. Why don't you go find him?
Q: I want PB!
Me: Then go find him. He's right over there. (pointing)
(1.7 minutes pass)
E: Mom, I think we're almost done! (at least 5 cups of buttons remain unsorted)
Me: Really? Hmmmm.
Q: (crying) I hurt ear!
Me: Ohhh poor boy...How did you hurt your ear?
Q: I hit wall. I want loves.
Me: Okay, Quinny, sit on my lap and we can love. Don't sniff back. You'll get an earache.
(3 minutes pass)
E: Mom, I want to color now.
Q: Me too!
Me: Okay, go get some paper and the crayons and you can color while I work here.
(5 minutes pass)
Me: Oh dear! Look at the clock! We have to go get Cam now! Alright everyone into the car....(inaudible chatter)
The end. Whew.
So...today I decided to stay home and tackle the Button-Flower Project that had been ongoing for about 6 weeks. This was my goal: organize my buttons and paper flowers by color in pretty glass containers and place them on my shelf. This way I could find exactly what I needed when I needed it; instead of rummaging through big buckets of buttons and flowers for just the right one. I was almost done with this grand adventure and I thought that Lyssie, Quinn, Wyatt and I could spend a lovely hour working together, learning colors and sorting to our heart's content. Wouldn't that be fun? I thought.
Well...our organization/color learning/sorting hour ended up turning into two sessions of extreme patience (on my part) and kinda fun (on the kids' part). Let me give you a few select excerpts from the transcript of the two sessions to give you an idea of how lovely these mother-children times were. No colors were learned during either session, by the way.
Session One (length about 24 minutes)
Me: Okay, button helpers. Let's put the buttons into the right buckets. Reds with reds, greens with greens...
Elyssa (E): Oh Mom! Look at this beautiful pink diamond! Can I have this pink diamond?
Me: Put it in the pink bucket and you'll always be able to find it. Quinn no spitting.
E: (sad face) Ohhhh. But I love it.
Me: Yeah, I know. Quinn stop putting the buttons in your mouth. That's yucky. Do you know what color this is? (holding up red button)
Q: Blue
Me: No, it is red. Let's put it in the red bucket. What color is this one? (holding up blue button)
Q: Yeddo
Me: Almost, blue. Can you find the blue bucket? (Q puts it in the red bucket and I fish it out.) What about this one?
Quinn (Q): (snorting back mucous) I have yucky nose.
Me: Yes. It helps to blow into a tissue. Let me help you. (Failed attempt to teach how to blow a nose. By the time I'm done, I need a tissue too.)
(4 minutes pass)
Q: Dis is pink!
Me: (excited) Yeah! Good job! Put it in the pink bucket. (Q throws it into the yellow bucket. I fish it out.)
Wyatt (W): (starts to cry)
Me: Wyatt..what's the matter? Quinn stop kicking the buttons all over the room. Lyssa, you are doing a great job!
(2.5 minutes passes)
E: Mom! Look at this pretty purple flower! Ahhh! (shrill scream) Quinn just spit on me!
Me: Quinn, no spitting! Do not eat the buttons. Wyatt, are you tired? (still crying, harder now)
E: Mom, look at this beautiful green diamond! Can I have it?
Me: No. Put it with the greens. Wyatt are you ready for your nap? Quinny, stop banging the lids together. You'll break them. (W crying uncontrollably now) Okay, I think that I'm going to put baby Wy down for his nap. Lyssie and Quinny, would you like to play upstairs for a bit while I feed Wy?
E, Q: Yeah! (everyone runs upstairs)
45 minutes passes while I feed Wy, then fold some laundry
Session Two (slightly longer than session one)
Me: Okay, let's go do the buttons again! (enthusiastic, but wary)
E: Yeah! (true enthusiasm)
Q: Yeah! (true enthusiasm)
E: Ohhh! Mom, here's a sparkly pink heart! It's so sparkly I'm going to die! Can I have it?
Me: No.
E: Ahhhh. But I love it!
Me: I know. Quinn stop kicking Lyssie.
Q: I want PB!
Me: PB is in the living room. Why don't you go find him?
Q: I want PB!
Me: Then go find him. He's right over there. (pointing)
(1.7 minutes pass)
E: Mom, I think we're almost done! (at least 5 cups of buttons remain unsorted)
Me: Really? Hmmmm.
Q: (crying) I hurt ear!
Me: Ohhh poor boy...How did you hurt your ear?
Q: I hit wall. I want loves.
Me: Okay, Quinny, sit on my lap and we can love. Don't sniff back. You'll get an earache.
(3 minutes pass)
E: Mom, I want to color now.
Q: Me too!
Me: Okay, go get some paper and the crayons and you can color while I work here.
(5 minutes pass)
Me: Oh dear! Look at the clock! We have to go get Cam now! Alright everyone into the car....(inaudible chatter)
The end. Whew.
7 comments:
What a hoot! I can actually picture this scene as you are recreating it. Especially E's pleas for having the pretty buttons. Too cute and i miss them all too much! LYTTTTTTTM!
So cute! Miss them too. We need to get together soon.
This is why I quit sewing. Same transcript, different kids!
Love it. You are supermom-most (me) would pop in a movie!
hahahahah --- that's too funny!
I found you via Somerset Magazine. Great idea with the buttons and flowers. I completely understand about the balancing act and my daughter does the same thing with the embellishments, she wants them all.
Thanks for sharing.
Bethany, I've also had such lofty mother-child-teaching-time aspirations. It never plays out how I imagined it. Don't we get an "A" for effort! Good patience!
Love it Beth! I can so totally relate :)
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