It seems I can’t go anywhere without someone either telling me how full my hands are with my little ones or reminding me of how quickly the time passes. Typically the latter comment makes me a bit sad. (Usually it depends on how my children are behaving at the moment.) However, I’m guessing that for the most part, I’ll miss being surrounded by silly little preschoolers each day. Of course, I would have been more than happy to have been surrounded by older children last night.
Last night, as my husband was on his way back into town from a short trip, I found myself facing a little dilemma. You see, a few days ago, I noticed signs of a mouse trying to keep warm in our house. Obviously, I jason’t too fond of the situation. I bought some traps and also tried to reassure my daughter about the mouse’s fate while not lying. (That was not an easy task.) After one night of the mouse outsmarting the traps, my husband headed out of town. If I had been smart, I would have let the mouse run loose while he was gone. Instead, I put out two different types of traps, one of which worked. Unfortunately, the trap I used was one that catches a live mouse rather than, well, you know.
So, that is how I found myself making a frantic call to my neighbor late last night. We laughed as I tried not to cry about the poor little mouse and the poor little me. I talked to her as I took care of the situation which involved a broom, plastic bags, and a discarded dust pan. As I hung up, I remembered a similar situation that I handled as an older child. Our family cat had caught a rabbit and somehow deposited that rabbit into our house. The poor little creature was still alive and hopping around our house. If my memory serves me well, my mom was up on a piece of furniture and yelling for someone to do something about it. (Sorry Mom!) That was when I had the brilliant idea to put a large bowl over the little bunny and scoot it outside of the house. It worked like a charm and my mom was extremely grateful.
Yesterday, I would have much preferred standing on a chair while screaming for someone to do something about that poor little mouse. Of course, that someone would have been either one of two preschoolers or a toddler. I’m quite certain they wouldn’t have made the situation any better. I did what I had to do, but for a moment I sure wouldn’t have minded an older child's help. Later as I saw them sleeping, I changed my mind wishing they would stay little for longer than a few short years. After all, I can always get a cat, but these little ones won’t always be small enough to cuddle in my lap. These are sweet days!