We've been fixing up a few things around the apartment to get ready for the influx of guests who will be staying with us for the wedding. Ava and Jace are camping with my mom and since we were short a couple of kids we decided to go out to brunch at a restaurant where kids six and under eat free. It felt like a great deal, especially considering just how much our three "little kids" can eat. It seemed much more simple eating out with five rather than seven, and after we were all stuffed we headed out to pick up a rug doctor to clean the carpets. John thought the kids would nap off brunch while we cleaned, and it almost worked. All three of them passed out in the van within minutes. When we got home, we managed to transfer Coen and Evany to their beds without waking them, but we weren't so lucky with Seth. He had caught a second wind and he was all about helping his dad out.
"Dad! The water! Put it here!" "Hey! That goes there!" He's a bossy kid, for sure, and he bossed John through every step of getting the rug doctor ready. But he wasn't just bossing John around...a minute later I heard "Mom, you sweeping? You done? Okay!"
He was convinced he was integral to the carpet cleaning process. John let him run the machine thinking he'd get tired of it, but no. We offered To let him watch his favorite show but he said no. "Mom," he protested, "I'm helping!" He would tell John "Right here, see? Ok, good, no more!"
A job John thought would take a couple of hours was shaping up I take triple that thanks to Seth's 'help', and I could see John calculating just how long this was going to take. I kept expecting him to ask me to take Seth away so he could work in peace, and eventually he did turn off the machine and look up at me. "Are you hearing all of these sentences he's using?!" John asked me. "He's doing so great!"
Seth shrugged. "I'm just helping dad!"
It's those moments when I see Seth thriving and being a normal kid who can hear just fine when the vacuum is running and boss us around verbally just like any of his siblings that just knock me over in gratitude. These experiences are what make all of it worth it. I can't believe Seth is almost four years old. It's been a roller coaster ride for sure but he's an amazing kid. I can't imagine life twithout him bossing us all around.
Park City Utah
2 years ago