Okay, well I do have to say that in the equation:
Chaos = Kids + X
there are many things that could solve for X:
peanut butter
glue
too many toys
not enough sleep
Chaos can equal kids + chocolate.
Or kids + loud music
Or kids + kids + Birthday Party
Today though it was snow
kids + snow = chaos
Now I’m not talking about the kids outside shrieking and sledding. That’s one kind of chaos on its own. Neighborhood noise. But it’s happy chaos.
I’m talking about bouncing-off-the-walls-better-than-the-Energizer-bunny chaos.
I’m talking take-me-outside-please chaos. I’m talking snow-makes-us-silly chaos.
I think snow must be almost intoxicating. Makes kids lose their better judgment. Or else they just forget the facts about it all.
The girls – the two who can talk – beg me to take them outside to play in the snow. So I get everyone bundled up. 4 pairs of boots. 4 pairs of mittens. 4 coats.
We go outside. The girls play a bit. They even eat snow. They try to make snow balls. They take toys out of the garage to play with them, placing the colored plastic all over the white yard. They shovel the snow and pack it into buckets. While they’re playing I try to shovel some myself.
Then all of a sudden, like Cinderella’s story, the enthusiasm melts. It vanishes. Evaporates. The girls begin crying about how cold they are. Like stuck with their pumpkin instead of a stage coach. The fairy tale is gone and they are “freezing!”.
So back inside we go. Off with 4 pairs of boots. 4 pairs of mittens. 4 coats. All dumped by the door as we all run inside. Looks like some kind of disaster hit. A mess. Entropy at its finest.
Later, when the kids are warmed, I come back and untangle all the items, brining them inside so they can defrost rather than freeze. I carry pairs of mittens and boots until all 16 are in the house. I hang the coats on door knobs or in the bathroom. I check to look outside and make sure I didn’t miss any items. It seems crazy trying to keep track of everything.
But I know I need to thaw the clothes. In a little while, soon as the girls have warmed themselves again, they’ll be begging me to go outside again…to continue the cycle of creating chaos.
