Mud Magic

As a parent of small children, I have had to accept a new level of dirt and yuckiness in my life.  I wipe up tables, floors, counters, faces, and bums constantly.  I launder clothing daily and wash 3 pairs of hands compulsively.  This is all part of the job, and I've accepted that it is a phase, not a permanent state.  I try to be level headed and keep it in perspective.  A little dirt is OK. 

Today we continued project "create a garden."  After working on the weed patch in front of our house yesterday for a good chunk of the late afternoon, we were not at the point of being able to plant anything when we headed inside for dinner.  And guess what, we were still not at a point where we can plant anything when we headed into dinner tonight.  But I got some more weeds round up, the babe got to use her new rake and "work the soil," and the little guy got to sit in the dirt and eat chunks of mud as if the soil patch was a field of strawberries.  I've heard it's good for kids to eat dirt, but I'll admit I was slightly disturbed.

After she got bored with digging, the babe had a "magic" session where she would bring a bucket of dirt to the hose, add water, and create....yep, you guessed it, mud.  She kept calling it "magic," and I honestly believe that she thought it was magic.  How cool to think making mud is so bloody special.  How cool to be able to eat mud with such giggling gusto.

I sometimes forget how very young my children are, and I admit my expectations are pretty high.  Watching them muck around with something so simple made me take a step back and remind myself that they have been on the planet such a short time, and perhaps I should be trying to look at things through their eyes more often.

It's after 9:30 pm and the laundry is still going, but the fact that all four of us have gotten pretty dirty in the past few days makes it well worth it.