Pumpin'

My morning started pretty well. I got up and actually worked out and watched the last 10 minutes of one of the matches of the World Cup. I even sorted and put away most of the 6 loads of laundry I washed yesterday. I had a great day planned for the children. After breakfast and a quick bath, I was going to pack a lunch and take them on a field trip to Wheeler Farm and we would have a picnic at the farm. We'd be out of the house around 10 and we'd be back around 1:30. They like to visit the farm.
However, it took us about 3 hours to get out of the house today. It took them that long just to get dressed, plus we had some nasty issues with a clogged toilet that I tried to unclog. Arden waited until the last minute to go potty. Apparently, it was too difficult to walk 30 steps and use my restroom. Instead, he used the clogged toiled (he had been told to NOT use it) and when he flushed, well...you get the idea. I spent a good deal of time cleaning and sanitizing.
I guess I need to regulate these kids better. Apparently, telling them it's time to go is not working, nor is it just telling them to NOT use the clogged toilet enough.
By the time we left the house it was around 12:30. I told them they missed out on going to the farm and if they did a better job getting ready tomorrow, then, we could try again. I took the kids to the city playground. I was feeling frazzled by then. I had brought some magazines to read while the children played at the park. In my mind, they would play and I would relax. I didn't get to sit and leaf through my magazines, instead I walked around from one play structure to the next carrying our leftover lunch, water bottles, etc. One of the last structures we went to were the swings. Swings are okay. I just don't like to stand there and push. I'd rather be relaxing. By that time, I decided to give up on the relaxing part and just do it, just push. I figured it would be the usual, Maya would ask me to push faster. Arden would ask me to keep giving him some pushes, while he struggled to pump while I tried to teach him the correct 'pumpin' technique...
Well, Maya did ask me to push 'faster'. This time it was a little bit different. I gave Arden a push and the swing didn't slow down. He kept pumping and pumping. He pumped for 20 minutes straight and the swing did not decrease in height. I was proud of him, but he was really proud of himself.
That made my day!Then, the rest of the day went pretty well. When it was time to go to the pool they even got ready without much delay...only 20 minutes.