Learning to Foster and Nurture the MESSES

Taking deep breath......slowly exhale....Ahhh-oooommmmm............

This is what I practice on a daily basis. Taking the deep breath, before I react. It really helps me.
I'd say, throughout these moves, the stress of beginning my business, homeschooling, packing, unpacking, disasterous messes, paying the bills, calling about bills, getting extentions to pay the bills later, doing the budget, shopping, wrangling the boy's all the while, being referee (for the 100th time! Quit hitting your brother!) trying to do ONE load of laundry, and staying far away from doing the dishes, but then add the stress of the dishes never being done...wait, what was I saying...oh yeah, learning to breathe.

I serve alphabet vegetable soup. At the kids table, in kitchen. Tame enough, right? No, not for MY boy's. I leave for two minutes (to see a man about a horse), and what do I come back to? Canyon is walking toward me with a full bowl of a soup-type-looking-stuff, I quickly grab that, as he's looking quite unsure of himself by that point. Then, I take it back to the table, to find a big soup mess all over the table, and find that River has most of his soup in his cup that previousely had rice milk, but now is rice milk flavored alphabet vegetable soup...mmmm! Canyon has done the same, but in his bowl, that's why it was full.

Now, My first feeling (and I have been known to do this) is to LOSE IT! NOT ANOTHER MESS! I can't deal with ONE MORE MESS!
No, this time, I think with the SUPER-MIND of a homeschooling/unschooling mom, (you know, the one I'm trying hard to become), and think, "I can yell, and get mad, or I can foster their curiosity". So I tell Canyon, right when he thinks I'm going to yell, "I'm NOT going to get mad". He say's "your not mad?". I say, "no, would you like to continue playing with your soup?". His face just lit up, and say's "YES!". So I told him, that in the future, if he wants to play like this, and it will make a mess, he may do it, but only outside. So I took both their soups, and cups, and put them outside, and joyfully said to continue playing!

This was yet another time that I have felt like I was actually connected to my children and their learning/playing needs rather than working against them! It feels good. If I can just retain the patience.....I've only been working on this for about 4 years, I'm not even HALF way to zen.....maybe one day....:)