About a week ago, my youngest comes into the garage covered in sugar. I had been in the middle of moving and arranging items as we are still in the middle of getting settled into our new house and his appearance in such a state really dampened my day (to put it mildly). I had forgetfully left the jar on the counter instead of putting it in the cabinet and he had brought his step stool over to reach it. I angrily whisked him off to the shower and scolded him for getting into the sugar jar.
My anger came from my feeling that he took advantage of a simple mistake while being preoccupied with trying to move into a new house while watching three kids. I know it wasn’t out of spite – he just saw the sugar and wanted it – but it was frustrating not being able to leave the kids alone to play for a little bit so I could get a house project done.
As I was showering and scolding, my Dad took the empty sugar jar and placed it out of sight in back of the microwave, just to keep it out of the way.
That was a week ago. Now, on a random weekday morning, as I am making a cup of tea in the calm quiet of a sleeping house, I find the empty sugar container and finally refill it so I can have my tea. I smile as I recall the incident and picture him barely reaching the counter on his step stool to get the sugar and then sticking his fist in the bowl to finish every last bit of sweet crunchy goodness. My son is a week older now, and with each passing week, he gets closer to growing up and moving on.
I’m fairly confident that the next time something like this happens, I’m going to get pissed off again. Not sure if I can help that – I’ll get caught off guard when I’m tired and cranky and my kids are doing something they really shouldn’t be doing. Even so, next time, I hope I find the sugar jar a little sooner, maybe after only three days.