All moms know that feeling. You spin your wheels all day long and then as the sun is sneaking down to the horizon you look around and feel as if you've gotten nothing at all accomplished. I have to remind myself... a lot... that's it's not all about the quantity of things checked off my infinite to do list, it's about the quality in the time spent each day.
I understand the temptation to plug the kids in, drop them off with a sitter, sweep them under the rug so one can get something accomplished. And believe me there are days when I would give a bag of gold to have an uninterrupted thought in my head. But the tasks we do together, as slow and insane as they may be, are worth the mess and worth the extra time taken.
The salad could have been made in 10 minutes. It took a good hour, and that does not include cleaning the counter or the chubby cheeked helper. She felt what it was like to squash a tomato in her fingers, she tasted some avocado and promptly spit it back out, she smelled her first lemon and made a spectacular pucker after a curious lick, she ripped up pieces of kale with wreckless abandon. I am so glad neither of us missed those moments for the sake of "getting it done".
Of course we could buy laundry detergent at the store. Bam. Game over. But I have become addicted to making our own (one
recipe here, and there are many variations online). It's less expensive, the ingredients are basic and good, and it smells wonderful. Yes, it takes an afternoon of Zach grating the soap while Naia tries to sabotage every step of the process with determination and dimples. But we're under the oak tree, listening to the halyard clang against the masts, smelling the pepperminty goodness of the Dr. Bronners, working together. It's all part of their becoming and my remembering.
