A trip to Wendy's with five children. I should have thought about the last part with five children. It's been a while since we took them out to a restaurant. This time, I met my husband at Sam's so they could check his car. His brakes/car/something was making a funny noise. We headed over to have dinner while it got fixed.
My two older children, while trying to be good, pretended to "spy" on people who were in line. They kept peeking over the little wall (that holds the condiments) and then got back down giggling. My two year old tried to climb up on the wall, too. I think I pulled him back down a few times. One of my three year olds kept running around. My husband took each twin to the bathroom, so it felt like I was alone with the kids most of the time. Then one of the twins kept yelling for more chicken nuggets and fries. I was pretty happy with the display we were putting on. Yep, they're all mine.
The walk out to the car which was only like ten feet away was a great experience. One twin took off around the building while the other tried to run free, but I caught him. Then on the drive home, one twin kept screaming and spitting at me while unrolling the window and opening the power doors (I guess that happened before the drive home) until we found the child lock. Then on the drive while the window was unrolled, our window shade kept blowing out the window, so I couldn't roll the window up because I worried I would ruin the shade. The other two little boys kept spitting.
Needless to say, there were a few time outs at home and then they were tucked away to bed. Actually, it wasn't tucking. It was my husband staying down there putting the three little boys back in their beds every time they came out, for probably an hour or so. He does it almost every night. And I think he grits his teeth beforehand, knowing the struggle. The twins were starting to stay in bed, finally. Then the two-year-old got out of a crib into a bed and his newfound freedom started to rub off on the twins a little bit.
Last weekend we went to Shoshone Falls. We took a little hike and on our way back, I was ahead with the two older kids and one of the twins. My husband had the other two. We passed a couple and then the couple passed my husband. He stared at my husband and referring to us, who were up ahead now, he said: "Are all these yours?"
They were. They still are.
The twins used to get into the bathroom at night and get water with their play pots and pans and dump it in their beds, or more so, on the baby who was in the crib. There were a number of times we went down there to find the baby soaked. There is a good child lock handle on the bathroom door. That is taped. Apparently, they could just break it before.
On the really lucky days they would empty their clothes drawers and dump the clothes into the crib and then get in with the baby and all three would be jumping up and down on the clothes quite happily.
I realize I can't stop it. My kids are a little crazy. We try to help them have manners, and all of that, but they are kids. And thankfully, most people in this world seem to understand that--at least the people I have been blessed to be around.
I don't want to worry what others think of my kids, not really. I want them to be well-behaved, but I really want them to BE good. I want to parent my kids the best I can in whatever situation they are in, in public or not, and sometimes the parenting that is really needed is some food and a nap. And sometimes a hug. Actually, that's what I usually need too after a long day as well.
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