Children are exhausting

There were somewhere between 50 and 60 kids at the church this evening for choir and other assorted activities, and, well, some of them are unbelievably hyper. And I don't always mean that in a good way. After all of the afternoon's drama and woe, I'm so grateful to have such lovely, affectionate, polite, sweet children. And I'm so glad that they generally play well with others, at least when they're not being possessive about their own toys.

We spent nearly an hour outside in the bright late afternoon sun while the aforementioned child horde rampaged the playground and expended energy. No one was seriously hurt, and there was a snake spotting in the tree beyond the fence on the far side of the playground. I didn't go near there. I am afraid of snakes, although I did not admit this weakness to any of the boys who might have used that knowledge for evil. Fortunately I was not the sole adult supervising these kids, so I let the other moms handle the snake watching. I was busy enough keeping tiny girls from climbing to terrifying heights on the playground structure.

I learned several valuable lessons from today's experience, and not only about skills, words, and interests that I don't want my own children to possess. I learned that you can never have enough volunteers - parents, actually - supervising this group. I also learned that fifth graders can be surprisingly kind and accepting toward preschoolers, but not always. In addition, I learned that it's virtually impossible to capture the interest and attention of boys who are only there at church because their moms make them come, particularly when those moms drop them off and leave to get a few hours of peace away from said boys. Hmph. I think many of these issues are going to need some serious thought and planning, so that hopefully the wonderful volunteers we do have don't get burned out so quickly next year. I've done my share of volunteering in the past, but I've never been in the managerial role previously, and my appreciation for those women (and a lone man today) has multiplied tenfold.

In other news, Two is still sticking to his starch, cheese, and sweets diet plan. He also has started another delightful habit: throwing his cup across the room if he discovers that it contains water, instead of his beloved juice. And Big Girl? She'll be singing in church this weekend with her choir group. Can't wait to see her. I need to pull out the ironing board and make sure her new pretty white dress looks pressed and perfect for the occasion. And I need to remember to scrub her ears - because when she plays in dirt, that girl gets it everywhere.