Day 338 The Perfect Mom Project

Yesterday actually went better than expected, which is nice for a change. Avery woke up feeling well and proceeded to clean her room. When I discussed with Aly the fact that she needed to ask me first before making plans that involved my car, she said "Oh OK Mom, sorry." I was suddenly concerned that somehow while I was sleeping I entered an alternate universe. My concern did not last long as my lovely children started hurling harsh words and sentiments at each other as they cleaned the basement.

Cleaning the basement is their chore once a week. They are suppose to trade off, one week one vacuums the entire basement, and the other dusts and sweeps and then the following week they trade. It sounds fairly simple, but each week someone forgets what they did the week before and a fight begins. Now maybe a perfect mom would write this stuff down, and assign the tasks, but this Mom kids herself every week thinking they will get it right for a change. On top of that, during the school year I do all of it all by myself. Sadly I do not have anyone to argue with about what my job is that day, because they are all mine! All I can think when these two kids start their routine is, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" As I write this it comes to mind that someone once wrote, that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results each time. Now I am wondering if instead of becoming perfect, mothering has driven me mad!

The upside is that I have made it through one of the most emotionally difficult times of my life this last year and I am still raring to go, so I have to think that these two kids of mine could not drive me to insanity on their own. Fighting and bickering is something I have grown accustomed to, Mark has always told me that bickering is part of being a sibling. I just wish it was not so painful to watch and I also wish that when I stepped in to "help" it went much better than it does. There definitely is no alternate universe here, this is reality, but it is my reality and I am making it work the best I can. It might not be perfect, but I like it just the same.