As the mother of two-year-old, twin boys, there are certain realities I accept. My house won’t be really clean for a long time, and I will have daily conversations about who has a peepee, and who doesn’t. I accept these realities, because they come along with my boys greeting me at the door at the end of each day. And that’s such a joyful thing—you can’t even begin to imagine that kind of joy before you have children.
But just when I think I’ve achieved balance and maybe (just maybe!) worked out a system with my husband and our nanny in which I am a reasonably successful wife, mother, and boss, I find myself in a “teachable moment.”
One weekend this fall, I found myself alone with the boys for an entire weekend. My husband was out of town deer hunting, and Spencer and Jackson were in rare form. They fought and squabbled all weekend. It’s Sunday evening, and I am trying to wrestle two naked toddlers into a bath so I can put them to bed. And Jackson, normally NOT the mischief-maker in our household, manages to get away from me. He dashes into the living room and, well, there’s no polite way to put this. He peed all over my freshly cleaned carpet. Just…peed on it. He hasn’t done something like that before or since, and I am not lying when I tell you it almost broke me. I got through a long and tiring weekend, and I’m rewarded with pee-soaked carpet.
I suppose I could tell you that I turned the “pee incident” into a really great child-rearing moment, or that I hired another nanny on the spot. But, I didn’t. I bathed my two wild boys, put them to bed, and cleaned the carpet. There really was nothing else to do but deal with it and face the next day. And although I could do without any more pee on the carpet, I’m thankful to Jackson for reminding me of that.
Written by: Kasie Smith is a Michigan native. She was born in Traverse City, and now lives in Grand Rapids. She enjoys golfing, spending time in the sun, and watching romantic comedies with her very own leading men, her husband Jason and her twin boys, Jackson and Spencer.
