The Mother of Invention

The morning started with Caleb being, well, Caleb. A boy, noisy, active.

The morning started also with me being, well, me. A mom still waking up, quieter by nature, liking a peaceful environment.

As I once again asked Caleb to please us an indoor voice, I had that familiar twang of 'am I just asking him to be something that he isn't?' Then I found myself telling him firmly "Go downstairs, turn on the lights on, and run and scream and do what you want to do. You are a boy, it has been raining for five days, and you have every right to want to be active and noisy. However, this is my home too, and I have every right to want to be able to eat my breakfast with some sort of peace." After he tried to argue out of it and realized I wasn't budging, he and his sisters went downstairs.

Soon the noises of children being children came upstairs. With the stereo loud enough I couldn't tell if they were arguements, getting hurt squawks, or having fun noises. I even managed to begin a menu for next week and ponder the weekly task of a grocery list.

After having ten of these blissful minutes, I was able to go downstairs and enjoy their noise. As I watched them play a game with fabric laundry baskets and nerf balls, I had an idea. I went into our storage room (also known as the 'I don't know where to put it room") and looked for a hammer and nails. Then I put two nails into two facing ceiling beams. Voila! Basement basketball.

As I moved on to getting the laundry started, the phrase 'necessity... the mother of all invention' came to mind. And I was especially delighted that whoever thought up that phrase knew that it woman, and especially a mother, who would come up with all creative solutions.