Nobody likes me, everybody hates me...Guess I'll go eat worms

It has to be so hard to be the middle child. It's as if we are constantly trying to figure out where Paige "fits." Most of the time, we clump her with the older kids, because in my mind, time is measured as BT (Before Twins) and AT (After Twins). But the reality is that Paige was born at just 2 BT, which means that she is much closer to Spencer and Kade's age/mentality/ability/development. It's days like this that remind me of that fact.

It was the beginning of November. We had already had "winter-like" weather that year, but we were enjoying a particularly warm day for that time of year. Just a couple of weeks earlier, Paige "helped" us break down our garden (pulling up plants and getting ready for winter). She spent all summer learning that worms were good and snails were bad. For a girl that is deathly terrified of the smallest bug or flying insect, she was never afraid of creepy, crawly worms or picking up snails by their shell and throwing them over the back fence.

Knowing that this was probably one of the last warm days for several months to come, I decided that I would clean all of the windows - inside and out. This isn't my first rodeo. I've been at this mothering gig long enough to know that when I devote myself to a particular project, it means that disaster will undoubtedly occur elsewhere in the house. This day, however, Paige exceeded even my expectations.

I was working outside with the kids outside as well. Paige, Spencer, Kade, and Chase were all playing. We were all going in and out as I attended to my chore. I constantly had little children "at my feet," and occasionally stopped to push someone on a swing for a minute or assist with a potty break or open a banana. When I was finally finished, I came in the house to clean up and found a trail of mud leading from the backdoor to the bathroom. Naturally, I followed the trail. I found all four kids surrounding the pedestal sink in the bathroom, mud and ooze dripping down the sides of the sink and splattered all over the wall, landing in big puddles all over the floor. In the sink, I found about 30 worms with Paige picking them up and letting them run through her fingers. The three boys were standing around the sink staring at her and her worm army.

I vaguely remembered (in the middle of my chore), the kids asking for plastic cups so they could collect worms. Apparently, I did not anticipate the effects of that decision. I told her that worms belong outside and not in the bathroom sink, and asked her to get them out of the sink and back outside. I started mopping up the mud and ooze all over the family room floor and rug. When I went to get the cleaning supplies for the bathroom, I came back to find Paige walking from the sink to the back door with a handful of worms, dripping mud and ooze and worms all over my clean floor. Apparently, she had forgotten about the plastic cups to transport the worms.

I had her sit on my bed with a stack of books while I cleaned up. She was crying and carrying on and on about how I was mad at her. I explained that I wasn't mad, but I just needed to keep her contained for a few minutes just to allow me time to catch up with her.

Love her!