You need to clean the fishtank - So my 3 year old says

Tonight did not start off so easy. In fact it literally stunk. From the moment I arrived at my children's daycare to pick them up and my 1 1/2 year old came running into my arms with wet shorts and a putrid blowout, all the way until I finally put him to bed kicking and screaming. No, really. He was kicking, screaming, and hitting me. 

I swear y'all, there are some nights I find myself counting the minutes until it is their bedtime. My husband works night shift and I have been doing this rotation for 3 1/2 years now. God bless single mothers and army wives. You deserve a medal. I don't know if I could handle it without my husband home at least half of the time. 

But then, you have those good moments. Those moments where they do something so silly, so insightful, or just so downright adorable that you just sit back and think "Oh, that's right. This is what it's all about" 

Tonight I had one of those moments. And it erased the entire beginning of the evening. Funny how that works, huh? As I was laying in bed with my oldest, Nolan, who is now almost 4, he told me, didn't ask, but told me his father and I need to clean his fish tank. He stated so smartly that the dirt on the window will make his fish, Nemo 1, Nemo 2, and Dorit (because 2 Nemo's are ok, but 3 is clearly unacceptable) very sick and they will die. While part of me felt silly for not having cleaned the tank already, the other part was so impressed that he is even having such thought-out reasoning at his age. And I was proud. Again, not of the dirty fish tank.

And then he even went on to tell me "Mommy, we must snuggle, because I will go to sleep faster and so will you." And he's right. I sleep so much better when he's in my arms. Now Easton still needs some work obviously. The whole hitting thing is a work in progress but he will get there too. 

So my advice to any mom having a bad day is to push through! There are so many proud moments around the corner and just like child labor, you will forget about the hours of pain you endured for the reward!

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14 NIV