Daily Life with Preschoolers

A couple of days ago, I rearranged bedrooms to start preparing for the new baby. We decided that, since JR and M sleep in the same room half the time anyway, it would just be easier to combine their rooms, with JR on the top bunk and M on the bottom. So I moved everything into their room, which included most of their toys (whatever is not put away or in the playroom). This seemed to be working well for a while. For a 2 hour period every afternoon, we have nap/quiet time. The kids are allowed to either play quietly or nap, as long as they don't leave their bedroom, while A sleeps, and I do whatever I need to. Well, after their quiet time ended, they came downstairs giggling. I turned to find M, all dressed up in her princess costume (she can't quite figure out how to put the sleeves on by herself). JR, not to be outdone, had decided to join her apparently:


Yes, indeed, that is my oldest son wearing a tiara, necklace, and skirt....sighhhh........Time to get dad busy doing father/son projects I guess.

Tonight was even more adventurous. Still doing some new baby preps, S pulled our infant seat out of storage, and I set to cleaning it up tonight. I completely disassembled it to throw it in the wash. All the pieces to be washed were in one pile, with pieces not being washed in another. I instructed the kids to not touch, and took the car seat itself into the office to check for recalls. I returned after only a brief moment, to find one of my buckle pieces MISSING! M confessed that she had wanted to play with it and "lost" it. There are two things that never fail to amaze me with kids....first, how quickly they lose something, and secondly, how quickly they can completely forget where they even had it last! M was given an opportunity to find it, appropriately disciplined for disobeying, and forbidden to have any fun until it was found. JR, bless his heart, was searching as frantically as a 4 yr old can. We turned this house inside out. I crawled on my knees (at M's level) half the time looking in every spot I could possibly imagine it being. I mean, you CANNOT bring a baby home from the hospital without a properly fitted carseat. This means you MUST have all buckle pieces. Sure I could probably order another, but that could take weeks, and we may not get it in time! I was almost panicked. I told the kids we had to pray! After a good 30 minutes searching, M just wanted to go to bed, it was their bedtime anyway, so I took a break, put them to bed, said their prayers, and resumed my search, praying the whole time!

Wouldn't you know, God came through for me once again! Just as I was ready to give up, I noticed it laying on the back of the couch, where, I can only figure maybe she threw it up, and that is where it landed. I quickly ran upstairs, reported the news to the kids, and figured it was a great opportunity to show them how God can help us. We said a Thank you prayer then. Oh, I am so relieved!

So, that's life with preschoolers. They keep you on your toes!