Three's A Crowd

I heard my sister once say that three kids was the hardest to manage.  Up until today, I didn't know exactly what she was talking about.  I pondered this in my 2 minutes of free time while #1 was doing homework, #2 was playing in the bath, and #3 was falling asleep in my arms.

The reason why three is so difficult is that moms only have two arms and therefore can really only pay attention to two children at once.  I successfully managed to take care of the first two children at the same time.  Today I realized that three at once was slightly beyond my capacity.

A baby asleep in my arms while waking up a groggy two-year-old?  Done!  Now throw in a Kindergartener just home from school who wants to show you a bucket full of ladybugs?  Aaaagghh!

Kindergarten homework while soothing a fussy baby?  No problem!  But the addition of a toddler tantrum?  Help!

Listening to a 6-year-old talk about her day while washing marker off a toddler?  Easy!  Oops, that fussy baby is no longer sleeping.  Pardon me while I call for backup!

Thank goodness I have a dad around to pick up the parts I can't handle.  And a very helpful daughter who fetches and carries and holds babies when I'm busy elsewhere.  She's also mature enough to be patient when I can't help her right away because someone is crying.  Elizabeth, you're awesome!