Welcome to MY world

   The kids and I had planned to go to the park but it was getting close to lunchtime. So I asked Emma if she would mind being in charge of packing the lunches. She was really excited- like, jumping up and down excited. I told her to ask Ben and Kate what they wanted, and then get to work.
   I jumped in the shower and by the time I was dressed 6.8 minutes later I could here yelling from the kitchen. Lots of yelling. I snuck down the hallway and listened in on pure chaos. Emma was frantically trying to put Peanut Butter on pieces of bread, but Katie was hanging on her leg asking for juice. “Juice, Emma, Juice”. Ben was on a chair trying to reach his lunchbox on top of the fridge saying, “Emma, help me get this down” over and over again.
   I could tell Emma was trying to tune them out, totally focused on smearing jelly on the bread. Then, all of the sudden, she slams down the jam jar and yells at the top of her lungs, “Does it look like I have three hands?? I can’t do everything at once all by myself! I‘m not superwoman!”
   Music to my ears. I stood in the hallway savoring my solitude for 10 more seconds. Then I walked into the kitchen and gave her a big hug as the noise continued around us. “Mom, this is so hard! Everybody is loud and bossy and impatient..”
    I just whispered into her ear these words- “Welcome to my world…”

P.S.- since this day Emma has been very patient anytime I’m in the kitchen….