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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Why It's Taken Me This Long to Start Painting Olivia's Room

Or, "How Olivia's All-Thatness Gets in the Way of her Helpfulness":

Sean-Peter and Olivia are watching a video.

"Sean-Peter, you stay here and I'll be back ... But no following, okay?"

Sean-Peter continues to sit on the couch.

"Sean-Peter? Do you hear me? Sean-Peter? ... Right, you stay here! You can't follow me where I'm going. You can't watch what I'm going to watch. Because it's dangerous. "

Now Sean-Peter is off the couch.

"Sean-Peter? Aren't you listening? You can't watch what I'm going to watch! So no following."

I am sealing up the paint can now.

"Sean-Peter! I said no following! No, Sean-Peter, no! Go back."


Another title option, "Why It's Going to Take Me Six Forevers* To Paint Olivia's Room".

(*"Six forevers" was Conner's catch-all for A Really Long Time when he was Olivia's age, one of those phrases that lives on long past the little guy who coined it.**)

(At least, this is what I am reminding myself of when I feel like This is My Life forever and ever and I will never be able to paint or do anything else in peace, ever again.)

(That is, not for at least six more forevers.)

(**Oops. John just told me that he was the one who coined it. Who knew?)

3 comments:

Tam said...

We moved in May and I am still trying to unbox the other half of our life. I also want to paint because our house has no color and then I turn to look at my sweet little Angels and realize...hmmm that is not going to happen. HMMM

Jolyn said...

Tam,
I am admittedly a freak about painting: I have painted just before having a baby; I have painted right after having a baby. All I can say is that I enjoy it and just want to get it DONE so I have time to enjoy it before we move again!

Painting children's rooms are a particular challenge because you can't do them while they're sleeping ... I am just doing the trim in Olivia's room for now, so it's easy to quickly start and stop. It will eventually get done in minuscule increments over time!

Jerilyn said...

I wonder sometimes why we understand the phrase "but they grow up so quickly" only after they've grown up. Wouldn't it be better if you could truly assimilate that knowledge while they're still growing up?