Sunday, May 30, 2010

What A Difference The "Plus One" Makes!


Amelia has been gone for the last few days visiting grandparents, and her absence has made two things abundantly clear. One, I miss her more than I can stand. And two, triplets plus one is WAAAAY more work than triplets alone.

I always knew that having Amelia and the boys was more work than just having the boys, but Amelia's been gone three days and it's really become evident what a difference that extra child makes. Fewer toys to clean up, less laundry (marginally, but still), and one less person to help dress, feed, bathe, and put to bed. At four, Amelia can do lots of things for herself, so I always thought the difference would be negligible now. It isn't.

One of the chief reasons there's such a big difference is all of the play time, crafts and questions. Shoot, the lack of questions alone gives me an extra couple hours in my day. Of course the trade off is that my brain is stagnating while Amelia's gone. And I am starting to miss playing My Little Ponies. (Did I just confess that?)

I've tried to use the extra time wisely, tackling some projects I can't usually get to, like sorting through toys and clothes. Since the boys go to bed a whole hour earlier than Amelia, I have found I can work on a project for a couple hours and still go to bed around 10. That's at least an hour earlier than usual. I think my body has appreciated the extra sleep.

Most of my "extra" time is going to one BIG project, though: potty training. Yep, that's right. We have taken the plunge, so to speak. The boys were all showing signs of being ready, so I'm going for it. And taking notes along the way, so stay tuned for the Potty Training Chronicles in the days to come.

For now, let me just say that we've had some success, some hilarity, and only a few fits. Most of the fits were thrown by the boys. At least until Alex flushed half a roll of toilet paper while I was running a peeing Sam to the other potty and yelling at Isaac not to play in the pee that was all over the playroom floor. I know you can't wait to read all about it.

Hurry home Amelia! Mommy misses you. Especially since you can use the potty all by yourself.

© Trippin' Mama 2010

2 comments:

Kitty said...

It's amazing, isn't it? When our oldest isn't around, even if it's for an hour, it is incredible how much I can get done. But you're correct about the "brain stagnating". The questions at this age can be so challenging...

aunt susie said...

We sure loved seeing Amelia though!!