When we were embarking on the Big Event of Having Three Children (can you tell I read a lot of A.A. Milne?) people warned us, "Watch out! Three is CRAZY!" and I believed them and I worried a little bit. But then the little bundle of joy who is our Elkaberry came into our lives and we spent one of the best summers we've ever had in full adoration of her and each day that passed by seemed to be one of relaxation, contentment, and for lack of a better word, "bliss."
It really was that great. Partly because it was summer (and even an extraordinary summer where it almost never rained!) and partly because Elka was Wonder Baby who slept well, ate well, and wasn't much bothered by anything. It was definitely a great summer and I thought to myself, "what were those people thinking? Three is not crazy! Three is perfect! Three is (omg why did I even think this) EASY!"
Heh.
Riiiiiight. "Easy," I said.
The reality of the situation is that three is INSANITY. Two preschoolers and a newborn was easy. Easy beyond belief. But two preschoolers and The Baby Who Will Conquer the World?!? It's crazy. It's impossible. It is..... I don't even have words. It's just crazy!!!!
Let me tell you a little bit about Elka and her latest antics. Elka began the early stages of crawling, you might remember, at 4 1/2 months. She was fully mobile by 5 months, able to get to whatever it was she wanted. Now Elka is 7 months old and she is practicing standing up on her own. She's not really very good at it, but she WANTS to be and she spends most of her time trying to climb things. She can pull to a stand using anything. To make things more exciting, she puts anything she finds in her mouth. Buttons. Beans. String. Dog hair. Blueberry muffin crumbs. SHE EATS EVERYTHING. And she's really, really fast. So I can take something out of her mouth, walk (more like jog) to the next room to throw it away, come back and she's got something else in her mouth. She broke two teapots on two different occasions in one day. She got up to one of our lower tables and somehow got the box of watercolor paints and was mouthing the whole container. Nothing on the floor is safe and there's no way, with two older ones, to keep everything off the floor at all times. It's just impossible.
So, basically, it's not safe to leave Elka unattended for any period of time. Sometimes I can gain a few minutes of washing dishes by closing the doors to the bathroom and playroom and she can crawl up and down the little hallway by the kitchen for awhile. But my laundry room is not fit for children, so I'm pretty behind on that chore. It doesn't help that she's kind of stopped napping. Today her total naps barely added up to more than an hour.
So, today, when I put the milk jug away in the pantry instead of refrigerator, I thought, "I'm not surprised. They were right. Three is crazy. It's time to make a blog post."
In other news, Anja got a camera for her birthday in November and we just got the cord to put all of her photos on the computer. This is one of them:
This was one of the first ones. She's a pretty good little photographer, but since her birthday she's taken 487 photos, so I didn't really have time to go through them and find the best ones. Some of them are more "artistic" (she's got a whole bunch of one lamp she thinks is really beautiful) but she's taken a lot of really good ones of Elka. And she has since learned to keep her fingers out of the way, lol.
Oh, and as you can see, I am magically able to post pictures again!
I had mentioned on here the possibility of us buying a particular house. That deal fell through. Without going into great detail, there was more wrong with the place than we could afford. It was sad to let it go, but in the end, there were so many problems that it became utterly undoable. (I thought that was a word, but it's spell checking me with no suggestions.) What looked like a gem was actually a money pit. It was a charming little farmhouse on a great little plot of land. But what you can't afford, you can't afford.
Well, I'm a firm believer in whatever is meant to happen will, so I can't get too wrapped up in it. Perhaps there is another place for us somewhere.
Next week we register Anja for kindergarten. That's kind of unbelievable. She's moving from "preschool" to "school age." How did this happen?
6 comments:
Elka is THE cutest baby! I just want to squeeze her. I'm still in the 'easy' stage of having three and loving it. Although you are saying exactly what my sister has said, once that third one gets mobile, look out!
You are a wonderful writer/story teller Annie.
There is also just something inherently nutty about the third child. I think that adds to the craziness of it. I know you don't agree because you ARE a third, but take a look at all the #3 kids you know. They're all a little crazier than normal!
Your third sounds like my second. TWO was insanity for me. Zeke was walking (WALKING!) at eight months. It was unbelievable. Isabel was our third, and she was the dreamiest, easiest baby/toddler ever. (She's still the easiest). Maybe Zeke and Isabel were born out of order. ;)
Laura kept saying that you kept saying that three was so easy, and all I could figure was that I did something wrong because three took me about a YEAR to adjust to!!! So, of course, as you know, it will get a little less crazy eventually. Either that, or you just get a little more crazy...either way it starts to feel like normal again eventually! :o)
When you have several small children, crazy is the new normal..you are doing a fabulous job.....just remember to keep your sense of humor! Most of it really IS funny, you know ;)
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