Today was consumed by a chicken who had gotten infested with lice. This is the third time that lice have snuck on us during moulting season. You'd think I'd start to remember to dust everything and everyone with diatomaceous earth in September and continue through January. Nope, not me. Maybe it was the June baby that had erased my memory. This Fall, we've already lost one chicken to "unknown causes." Well. After we started caring for this hen and then noticed crawlies on ourselves (yuck), we realized that she had lice! Like the other one that died! Aha!
So we sprung into action, along with all of the other things that need to be taken care of around a house with four children, one of whom is an infant.
But this wasn't really the point of this post.
What I realized as the day unfolded, is that my children are capable of great patience, hard work, and resourcefulness. School today was how to care for a sick animal (or how to kill it, depending on the outcome; we'll see if it's still alive tomorrow). How to sit for two hours while your mother alternates between blow-drying the chicken and feeding it Gatorade in a dropper. And, how to make peanut butter sandwiches for four people for lunch. Precious and Bubby each wanted to read from Psalms this morning, too. There was some more.Starfall math review and some piano practice, but they were the background to the chicken.
Meals were random and rather late; the baby needed lunch when I wasn't able to feed him, so Precious did the honors. The kids gave themselves baths with eucalyptus soap to make sure they weren't carrying escapees from the chicken. Tater spent the morning happily hanging out in his booster chair that we borrowed from the dining room so that he could be with us and be outdoors- a great combination for him. Precious poked her eye with a drywall cornering tool (it's a little red, but she'll be okay). Crazy stuff happened today. Six loads of laundry, and three old towels still hanging on the fence to dry; how quaint.
And through it all, I heard very little complaining. The kids understood that taking care of our living creatures is an important job. We talked about it at breakfast; Mama needed to take care of the chicken, and was everyone on board? Yes, they were. The chicken may die tonight; but I will wake up tomorrow to my interesting, industrious, (and a little wild) household of children, greeting the next day-- whatever it may hold.
So we sprung into action, along with all of the other things that need to be taken care of around a house with four children, one of whom is an infant.
But this wasn't really the point of this post.
What I realized as the day unfolded, is that my children are capable of great patience, hard work, and resourcefulness. School today was how to care for a sick animal (or how to kill it, depending on the outcome; we'll see if it's still alive tomorrow). How to sit for two hours while your mother alternates between blow-drying the chicken and feeding it Gatorade in a dropper. And, how to make peanut butter sandwiches for four people for lunch. Precious and Bubby each wanted to read from Psalms this morning, too. There was some more.Starfall math review and some piano practice, but they were the background to the chicken.
Meals were random and rather late; the baby needed lunch when I wasn't able to feed him, so Precious did the honors. The kids gave themselves baths with eucalyptus soap to make sure they weren't carrying escapees from the chicken. Tater spent the morning happily hanging out in his booster chair that we borrowed from the dining room so that he could be with us and be outdoors- a great combination for him. Precious poked her eye with a drywall cornering tool (it's a little red, but she'll be okay). Crazy stuff happened today. Six loads of laundry, and three old towels still hanging on the fence to dry; how quaint.
And through it all, I heard very little complaining. The kids understood that taking care of our living creatures is an important job. We talked about it at breakfast; Mama needed to take care of the chicken, and was everyone on board? Yes, they were. The chicken may die tonight; but I will wake up tomorrow to my interesting, industrious, (and a little wild) household of children, greeting the next day-- whatever it may hold.
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