Cloth Diapers Are Taking Over My Kitchen

If you have ever potty trained a child, you know that you have to bring them to the bathroom every so often, in my case every 30 minutes, or you will have an accident on your hands. And asking them if they need to go potty seriously does not work! With cloth diapers you have extra incentive to make sure they get to the toilet on time - you won't have to clean the diaper.

My time in the kitchen cooking this summer has been relatively peaceful (let me reiterate the word relative here) since we were on break from school and I did not have to balance homework with cooking and keeping the two littler ones busy. But now between bathroom breaks, home schooling, my husband's busier work schedule and two little ones who desperately want their bigger brother to play with them - let's just say cooking has become less than cathartic.

My little man helping me roll out avocado tortillas.

When Blaise wanted to help me cook at the age of 2-3, he was very good at standing next to me or sitting on the counter and watching and talking. Oh, what a different story my youngest has turned out to be! She's a hands on kind of gal and wants in on the action, everything from cutting with knives to being right next to the burner. Like a good mother, I bring the stool back to the table and tell her nicely that it is dangerous and she cannot help right now. Between bathroom breaks, my time cooking is now spent returning the stool at least a dozen times, hiding them in the closet, putting the high chair in the garage so she cannot move it closer and use it to climb up on, and managing to help my eldest put the finishing touches on his lessons for the day - with a cheerful and excited tone too, school is supposed to be fun you know!

Where is all this going? Besides me wanting to write this down so that I know I'm not nuts because I am aware that other parents go through this as well, I realized my peacefully organized and successful routine over the past few months is now shot! So what is my solution? Blog about it, right? No really, I am a pro-active person.

I know that my daughter will learn her boundaries in my cooking space, and soon enough, it will become our cooking space to share. Looking forward to that day helps me to continue to put the stool back each time. Being positive and excited about home schooling is essential not only for my son, but for me too because it is very time consuming and draining in some areas, but so satisfying and fulfilling in many more for him and our whole family.

What is the light at the end of my tunnel? Sitting down to eat dinner as a family. It's qualifies as my goal that I strive to attain as I prepare and plan meals throughout the week and day. Dinner time is the time in our home when the day finally starts to come to a rest, we all come back together and for those 20-30 minutes of trying to get veggies down my toddlers, life is so good. We talk about us, laugh at good times, joke around, answer questions to our family spinning wheel to entice discussion and really get to enjoy each other as every family should.

I would like to encourage all families to take time every day for at least one family meal together at a kitchen table (without the distractions of items such as cell phones, televisions or computers). No matter how crazy things may be, it offers the family time to come together and celebrate one of the best gifts they all have - each other.