Little Munchkins

I survived six days under one roof with a family and their kids ages 5, 3, and 10 months.

Okay, I wasn’t exactly in charge of the critters, I was a houseguest at my friend S's place, but I did get a taste of motherhood. I love S’s style and found the whole experience to be amusing.

She organizes their days into activities that involve art and games, bubbles and sidewalk chalk, and of course meals, naps, and snacks. But mostly I admire how she not only makes the painting and puzzles and stuffed animals fun, she makes laundry, car washing, and dishes fun. All of her kids help with household duties. Well, they sorta help. I guess it depends on your definition.

When he fed the flowers, the 3-year-old’s attempt to use his sprinkling can kind of resulted in watering, although as the green plant gurgled and then collapsed, the word that came to mind was drowning.

And during a baking session, when 3 and 5 tapped their eggshells, I suppose you could say the eggs cracked. But the better term would probably be exploded.

And when the 5-year-old helped pack my suitcase, she put one thing in there…and then ate my eye shadow (sorry S, it was just a few licks).

At the end of the weekend we all hugged and waved good-bye and S said, “I hope I didn’t scare off your plans to have kids!”

“To the contrary,” I said.

Yes, having three kids ages five and under is a handful – there were tears and boo-boos and a night where the baby had a fever of 102.9 – but mostly it was a blast.

Just when I was feeling confident about this whole motherhood thing, I noticed my seat on the airplane. I was by a window, a mother was in the aisle, and her little toddler was smack in the middle of us.

The toddler barfed before the plane left the ground. He screeched and screamed and kicked. He threw toys at me, spread his peanut butter hands on my shirt, and spit his gum in my lap (the kid barely had teeth, but the mom asked to borrow a stick because she thought his ears might be hurting).

I was more frazzled after that 90 minute trip than the past six days put together. But it was a temporary frazzled.

Now I’m home catching up on work, and I can’t help noticing that it’s quiet around here. I miss those three little munchkins.