Fix it

I'll admit, I've been a little short tempered lately. When I want to get things done, I just want them done and I don't always have patience for little needy bodies interrupting me every 15 seconds. Yesterday I was trying to rinse the insanely large pile of dirty dishes. Henry insisted on helping. He loves to help (as you may remember seeing at the end of this post). As I rinsed and set the dishes aside, he very studiously took each clean dish, held it under the running water (while I was over him trying to use the same flow of water), and dumped it back in the sink with the still dirty dishes. It was annoying. I was irritated, but I kept quiet cause I didn't want to deal with his fit if I told him to stop. At one point when I was cleaning a plastic measuring cup, the handle broke and I hollered loudly, "Darn it! I can't believe it broke!" It was definitely a more grandiose reaction than the situation deserved. Grace called from the next room, "You shouldn't use that word*"  and then hurried in and said, "Can I see? Can I see?" I turned and flung the broken measuring cup on the floor. I immediately apologized and felt sheepish. I turned and continued awkwardly rinsing the dishes. (Henry was unphased by my outburst.)

A few minutes later Grace came in with the "fixed" measuring cup. She had been very concerned that I was so upset and wanted to help calm me down. She was also concerned that without the measuring cup I wouldn't be able to make pancakes. What a sweet girl. I wish I had more patience. I wish I could see the good in my children more often than the annoyances.

*Grace went through a "darn it" phase a few months ago and we put the kibosh on it, she definitely got the message. Now she's our word police.