Bubbles and Colored Milk

Almost 2 years ago, I was complaining to Aaron about how hard my day was at home with the kids. All about how so and so did this and it took me FOREVER to do that because so and so was whining and so on. (In my defense, I was transitioning back from being a working mom to a stay-at-home mom.) Very seriously, he looked at me and said, "All you do is complain. Do you even LIKE being at home with our kids?" My snap reaction was "Of course! I love our kids." But it got me thinking. 

I do love my children and love being at home with them.  I also know that it is best for them that I am at home, but somewhere along the way all thar joy and love was missing and I felt negative by the end of everyday. Among many realizations I had that day, one of them was that I was being negative. All day long, I would say no. "No you can't do that. Stop that right now. Leave him alone. Not right now, maybe later." Plus, I was looking at my day from the view of all the things I wasn't doing or couldn't get done because of caring for my children. So, I first made myself look at all of the positives of my day, including but most especially all of the moments I was spending with my kids. I also promised myself that I would say "yes" at least once a day. "Yes, you can eat that with your fingers. Sure, I'll read you that book right now (instead of wash dishes).  Let's have a picnic in the front yard." Gradually, the days got better, and while we still have tough days and tantrums, everyone seems to be more positive. (Well, minus the brotherly "love" fights. I don't think those will go away anytime soon.) If I feel like I'm having a bad day, I try to think of something the kids might enjoy, like a story and cuddle session, a picnic at the park, or a dance party, and it usually makes our day better. So today's "yes" was colored milk and bubbles...

One day, I thought it would be fun to add food coloring to our plain milk. Now, whenever the neighbor kids come over to play I hear, "Can we have colored milk?" (Yeah, I'm the cool mom.) :) So day it was turquoise colored milk with straws. They started to blow bubbles in their milk and my gut reaction was to stop them But instead, I set the ground rules of "no spilling or overflowing," and then let them have fun. They loved it and I feel so much better...

(Plus, won't this be fun for them to remember when they are older?)