Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t call my classroom a circus, or my sister’s house a zoo…

But I did jump straight from one form of chaos to another, and no, I don’t mind. I thrive on chaos, especially when it’s created at least partially by children.

Those last weeks of school were slightly circus like, when I think about 23 children & a slip n slide obstacle course (oh, and their 2 soaking wet teachers, who may have taken a slide or two as well…).

The craziness of June was packed with delightfully fun moments to spice up the dryness of review lessons and final tests. But overall, fun as it is, June at school is a little chaotic. It just is.

So I was all ready to exhale, when instead I found myself thrown into mom world. My sister was recovering and caring for her newborn, and I had a toddler in my care.

When I heard him talking in his crib that first morning, my first thought was, “oh no, now I have to figure out how to feed him breakfast. What does this creature eat, anyway?!” (I was relieved to find a sticky note on the table with instructions… and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he eats cereal with milk. Just like me. No baby food grinder needed, no specific preparation methods.)

I optimistically thought that it would be a breeze after the breakfast hurdle was so easily conquered. After all, I’m used to doing life with a room full of 10-year-olds. Just one barely-two-year-old couldn’t be too hard to handle!

I was wrong.

Add a morning and afternoon snack besides meals (yes, he gets to rub food on his face 5 times a day!), naptime, a big labrador retriever, and a new baby brother… and you have all the ingredients for a zoo. Then try to coordinate it all while getting the housework done.

As I work, my mind analyzes every task according to my newly acquired priorities.

If I leave this task for later, will anyone go hungry? Will anyone run out of clean clothes to wear? Does it need a diaper change? Is it crying? Is anyone going to be grumpy? Is the baby in danger of brotherly displays of affection which may not be entirely gentle?

Therefore the laundry gets washed regularly, but doesn’t always get folded promptly. There have been 3 meals on the table every day. (That might be easy for some of you, but this is from a teacher who hadn’t cooked supper since her March break!) I’ve even been pleased to discover that I DO enjoy cooking, now that I know what’s around to cook with, and I have the opportunity to work in the kitchen.

The dishes get washed routinely, not because anyone is crying or hungry, but because I would get grumpy if I had to work in a messy kitchen. So I make that a priority, next to diapers, hugs, and snacks for my assistant… who willingly has his fingers in all my tasks whenever possible.

It’s been absolutely delightful.

Toddlers are smart, I’ve discovered.

The educator in me has attempted to teach him lessons such as how to use a watering can (pour at least some of the water onto the plants, not just on yourself) how to pick lettuce (only the green stuff goes in the bowl, even if clods of dirt produce a more exciting sound), and how to chase bubbles (because babies trying to catch bubbles is simply an adorable scene).

He’s learning at a much faster rate than my students do, because there is so much to discover about the world at his age. He learns with all 5 senses, but tasting seems to be a favourite method.

Chocolate chips are delicious. Always. The first time he gets into the bag, and the second…

Mama’s garden flip-flops, although they were so tempting for sore teething gums to bite, didn’t have a great flavour. Just going by his disgusted expression…

We had just come inside one day, and after washing the garden mud off myself, I used a cloth to wash puppy kisses off him. He bent forward suddenly and licked my recently soapy arm. “Oh my!” the little voice proclaimed in a horrified tone.

He hasn’t tried eating flip flops or licked me since. He still loves chocolate. Learning by taste seems to work well for him.

Today his daddy made a profound comment while he sat in his high chair, eating.

“Um – don’t blow your nose with lunch meat!”

(Unfortunately no one could hold their laughter in, so… we may see that episode attempted again.)

He is also practicing how to show affection to his little brother. He kisses him, offers him his toys, climbs up to peek into the bassinet, makes gagging noises in his face and giggles (why, I have no idea – he loves discovering new sound effects!), shares his soother (yes, we have to sterilize it many times a day after rescuing it from big brother’s mouth), brings him any baby blankets he finds, rocks the baby swing to make the ride more interesting, kisses him again… and all day, every day, we hear him softly repeat “baby, baby, baby,” as he plays.

The bath water sprays everywhere. He follows me up the stairs and investigates the contents of my drawers. We walk slowly back down the stairs, hand in hand – it would be faster to carry him, but he’s SO proud. As he carefully places his foot on the next step, he says “mmHMM!” each time.

Now he’s sound asleep and I’m home for the weekend. My house is incredibly quiet… and for some reason, I feel tired. And I realize what happened to my life as soon as school was out.

I went from the circus to the zoo. And loved it!