No Trade

My most favorite time I’ve ever spent as a mom…was on the floor. It was the time my kids were little and there was nowhere we HAD to go...nowhere we HAD to be. The hectic life of homework, sports, lessons and practices had not started yet….and we were free to while-away the afternoons.

We would have picnics in the family room with square plastic Tupperware plates in different colors…pink for Chelsea, blue for Colin…and numerous Cheerios for baby Bri. A tablecloth spread out on the floor with my sweet baby right smack in the middle…not walking, and in no hurry…happy to watch her brother and sister go crazy. Lunch was always the same…peanut butter sandwiches, cut in triangles, no-crusts…a must. How fortunate I was that I could spend the afternoons…on the floor. My rolly polly baby on my stomach, pig piles, balancing Big C and Colinboy on my hands and knees, playing bicycle with our feet….Rolling around with the kids.

I wasn’t getting much done….but I didn’t care. Laundry was building, dishes were piling, floors were sticking. It wasn’t like I could see into the future…see how happy I would be I spent so much time rolling around with them. I wasn’t that analytical or clairvoyant. Maybe I wished I was still a kid…maybe I was lazy. But mostly it was just fun.

Some things you would never trade, for all the tea in China. Time on the floor was one of them.