One of the downsides of having kids is that all of the things you hate dealing with for yourself you now get to deal with for 3 (in my case) more people.
For example, one of my least favorite tasks is sorting socks. I dislike it so much that as soon as the frost is off the ground in the spring, I get out my sandals, which I wear until my toes start freezing. Soon after Michael and I married we made an arrangement whereby I would not have to sort and fold his socks.
Now I get to keep track of and sort Amanda's and Eleanor's socks. It wouldn't be so bad except that as soon as they have been worn once, one of the socks seems to disappear into the ether (the hozone, Michael always says). Here's a math question for the audience: if you have 10 pairs of socks in a pile, and you reach in to the pile and grab a random pair, how many do you have to grab before you have a pair? (at least 2, at most 11, and I think it follows some sort of normal distribution, I think...) In my case it is always 11, especially if we are late for school.
I have heard that you can get toddlers to sort socks, but I haven't figured out how to get any actual toddlers to do this. At least Luke doesn't wear socks yet, and I seem to remember from my brother's experience that you just get 14 pairs of white socks, and then you don't have to worry about pairing them up properly.
The other day I was sorting Amanda's socks and had neatly paired them up and rolled them into balls. Amanda came and unrolled the yellow ball, put one sock on, and unrolled the purple ball and put the other sock on. She noticed that they were different, but didn't think that she ought to do anything about it---she was neither worried that she should make them the same or proud that she had done something original. I don't know whether to be encouraged (I never need to sort socks for her again!) or discouraged (now I'll never find the pairs to those socks again!) Since she put them on herself, I'll let her do as she wishes.
For example, one of my least favorite tasks is sorting socks. I dislike it so much that as soon as the frost is off the ground in the spring, I get out my sandals, which I wear until my toes start freezing. Soon after Michael and I married we made an arrangement whereby I would not have to sort and fold his socks.
Now I get to keep track of and sort Amanda's and Eleanor's socks. It wouldn't be so bad except that as soon as they have been worn once, one of the socks seems to disappear into the ether (the hozone, Michael always says). Here's a math question for the audience: if you have 10 pairs of socks in a pile, and you reach in to the pile and grab a random pair, how many do you have to grab before you have a pair? (at least 2, at most 11, and I think it follows some sort of normal distribution, I think...) In my case it is always 11, especially if we are late for school.
I have heard that you can get toddlers to sort socks, but I haven't figured out how to get any actual toddlers to do this. At least Luke doesn't wear socks yet, and I seem to remember from my brother's experience that you just get 14 pairs of white socks, and then you don't have to worry about pairing them up properly.
The other day I was sorting Amanda's socks and had neatly paired them up and rolled them into balls. Amanda came and unrolled the yellow ball, put one sock on, and unrolled the purple ball and put the other sock on. She noticed that they were different, but didn't think that she ought to do anything about it---she was neither worried that she should make them the same or proud that she had done something original. I don't know whether to be encouraged (I never need to sort socks for her again!) or discouraged (now I'll never find the pairs to those socks again!) Since she put them on herself, I'll let her do as she wishes.
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