My Two Minute Nap

It was a good plan, in theory. Pig would help Horse with her class project that is due on Monday and I would run around the back yard with Rooster and Pig Jr. Theoretically, the younger two kidlets would be worn out from all that fresh air and exercise while their sister would hopefully be done with her work without the distraction of her siblings trying to "help."

That's not exactly how it played out.

Horse is still nowhere near completion on her project, and I'm starting to panic that our plans for tomorrow will have to be altered to allow her time to finish it. Rooster, Pig Jr., and I are all back inside after playing outside. The two kidlets were energized by all that fresh air and exercise. I was ready to keel over from exhaustion.

After consuming some water and a quick snack, I bribed the younger two kidlets with their electronic gadget of choice so that Mommy could lie down for half an hour while Pig ran to the store to find some new shoes for work. Horse was still plugging away on the computer. I'm fairly certain she was moving so slowly that she was going backwards on her project. Rooster did not take kindly to letting me rest. She very loudly kept telling her brother to get quiet because Mommy was sleeping. The fact that her brother was almost completely silent was irrelevant. He must have been breathing too loudly for her, or something else nonsensical like that.

After just a few minutes of trying to tune out my six-year-old's shouting, I started to doze. I was startled awake a moment or two later when I had this odd sensation of being watched. I opened my eyes to see Rooster hovering three inches above my face. I gasped and asked her why on earth she was staring at me. My little girl just smiled at me and said, "I'm just watching you. Mommy, you're so beautiful." I just about melted.

Granted, my hair was a wreck, I had sidewalk chalk smudged across my cheek, I was wearing a pair of ratty old sweatpants, and I was probably snoring just seconds before Rooster startled me. But somehow, to my offspring, I was beautiful. This either proves she has no standards or she needs glasses, but I'll take it.