The Red Mystery Blob

Today is Thursday, which means I need to wake up expecting chaos.

Our day starts off with me sleeping in as late as I can, until I look over at the clock and tell myself that if I don't wake up RIGHT NOW and get my behind downstairs to wake up my kiddos, feed them breakfast, get their diapers changed and their little bodies clothed, I am going to be late dropping Cale off at school.  It's a God-given miracle that I am able to get myself and my kids out the door before 9:00 AM on any given day, therefore having to be somewhere at 8:45 and actually getting there on time is a direct act of God.

Today was especially challenging, however, because it was pouring sheets of rain!  Buckets, even!  I'm not exactly sure why this change in weather threatened to delay my departure time...perhaps it was because I had to make sure Cale had all the appropriate clothing just in case his teachers decided to lose their minds and take a classroom full of preschoolers outside.  Or maybe it was because the sky was dreary and it made me move a little bit slower than usual.  Regardless, I found it incredibly difficult to get out the door on time.

I made it to Cale's school a few minutes late but the buses were still waiting out front which meant the teachers hadn't come out to help the students off, which further meant I wasn't officially late.  Bonus 'Mom' points for me.  I helped Riley out of the car and her freshly bathed and brushed hair was immediately plastered to her head from all of the rain.  She now looked beautiful, especially with the fat lip protruding from her face. (more on that another time)  By the time I walked Cale and Riley into the school we were soaking wet and looking like a pathetic trio of drowned rats.

After we dropped Cale off, Riley and I spent the next two and a half hours INSIDE.  We cleaned up the house a little and then met a friend at the mall to let our kiddos play so that we could sit for a few moments and enjoy a quiet cup of coffee.  It  never ended up being quiet but the friendship and coffee was exactly what I needed.  Before long it was time to brave the outdoors again and go pick up Cale.

The rain had not stopped and it was still pouring buckets.  I ran with Riley to the front of the school and before I could get to the overhang that would shelter us from the wetness, one of Cale's teachers stopped me with quite a bit of force and very matter-of-factly told me that "my son was a GENIUS!".  She then continued to tell me the long version of how Cale painted a picture today and the teachers around the school had all put bets on what the drawing was.  She told me her interpretation of the drawing was a cowboy getting kissed by his mistress, but other teachers thought it might be a firefighter saving an old woman from a fire.  She was quite sure that coincidences like that don't just "happen" and that Cale might have actually been trying to draw something.  It was a good story but by now Riley and I are completely drenched and Riley is shivering from the cold.

I must say, this teacher's excitement about Cale's drawing perked my curiosity and I was looking forward to getting a peek at it myself once we got home.  Cale must have been very proud of his artwork because he would not let go of the plastic bag that his drawing was wrapped in.  He held onto very tightly the entire car ride home.

When we finally did get home, wet hair and all, I pulled his drawing out of the plastic bag and immediately saw the cowboy kissing a woman.  I'm not convinced it's his mistress but it's a person none-the-less.  I'm certainly not convinced, nor do I believe for a second, that Cale purposefully meant to draw this (HE'S ONLY THREE YEARS OLD, PEOPLE!), but I did proudly hang it on the front of our fridge, which actually says quite a bit because I love having a clean fridge with NOTHING on it.  It's amazing what the pride of a parent can make a person do. :)

Cale still walks around the house and occasionally walks up to the fridge and stares at his beautiful masterpiece.  He squeals in delight at his mystery red blob!

The rest of our day consisted of lunch and speech therapy, but now I have two very exhausted kiddos who are quietly sleeping in their beds.

Ahhh, this is my favorite time of the day. :)