Last night the kids were being little demons - fighting, screaming, shouting at each other, us, themselves, it was noisy, so, so, noisy and stressful.
The bedtime run up - where even more stress can be made by the tiny one procrastinating getting dressed into pajamas for up to
forty minutes, I had enough.
Ever the devious mother, casually I mention that the first person to get their pajamas on, gets first pick of the colour of bowl in which supper is contained.
They were massively underwhelmed by this and continued to argue about paw patrol and whose house is whose and which figure they are playing with, and will be buried with, so no, you can't ever, ever have a turn.
I sat watching them, wondering how they had forgotten to share, how sick of each other they seem to be, and what a rotten job we seem to have done at times.
I quietly pointed out that the FIRST child to get their pajamas on, could also sit on my knee while we watch my little pony on the tv.
I have never seen four kids get dressed so quickly, around 90 seconds, - a world record.
Ayla was first, sparking tears from the other three.
Quinn had forgotten how she loves to draw-out getting dressed for as long as possible until mummy turns a special shade of purple and starts screaming "get dressed" like some kind of banshee. Quinn's favourite place to sit is on me and she panicked she might be relegated to, the horrors "daddys knee". However, being the only kid who has to get a nappy on for bedtime she was slowed down more than the others.
Zarek who had dressed himself a mere fraction of a second behind Ayla, was very upset until I pointed out I had two knees and they could each have one.
Gaius who accidentally put two feet down the same trouser leg, which slowed him down, was screaming and crying, Quinn is sobbing on the floor at not being quite fast enough to win, when Ayla said "it's okay, I'm going to give my place to Gaius". Gaius stopped crying and Zarek piped up "Quinn, you can have my knee", and Quinn stopped sobbing.
I looked at my two generous children, who despite being cross earlier, had done something so altruistically kind and thoughtful to help someone else they could see is hurting, I realise we've not done such a bad job after all.
The look on Zarek and Ayla's faces said they were both sad to not get to sit on my knee but had decided their sadness was less than the two who were crying on the floor.
We went into the kitchen where the fastest dresser could now choose the snack bowl colour and again tears broke out from the two who got the colours least matching their favourites. (It's friday, everyone is tired and easy to cry).
Ayla and Zarek negotiated with each other to swap bowls around until Quinn had the green one, (her favourite), Zarek the blue (his favourite), Gaius the orange and Ayla the purple (the smallest unwanted bowl) as a compromise to make the most people happy.
I gathered all four up in my arms, smothering them with kisses and telling them how kind they are and how proud I am before we all snuggled together on the sofa to watch the tv.
These precious moments, often discovered, or greater appreciated an afternoon of fighting and arguing just further demonstrate that while they might bicker over toys from time to time, when it really matters they always choose kindness.
