How Do They Do It?

I sort of single-parented this weekend. I say "sort of" because Fooz grabbed a couple kids Saturday morning and I blissfully only had two. Two toddlers in the grocery store and out-and-about is simply dreamy, by the way. Johnny and Gracie were divine. And another "sort of" is that my FRIEND, Joan, had all four at her house for more than several minutes while I ran home (we live across the street) and threw dinner in the oven. However, there were times this weekend when there was no back-up and it was not emotionally cool.

At one point Saturday night I had all of this happening at once, as we're going up to bed:

1. Lizzy putting on her very best throw-down-tantrum
2. Johnny dumping an entire box of tacks all over the middle of the floor (which meant I had to keep Gracie, Johnny, and Ainsley from running all over them)
3. Johnny crying because I yelled "JOHNNY. DO NOT MOVE!!!!" and freaked him out.
4. Ainsley crying because she managed to step on the lone tack that had skittered across the hardwood.

And I paused and wondered how people manage when it's just them and there isn't another adult around to help. Scenes like this are totally common in this house, multiple times/day. I would be an even worse mess than I am now if John wasn't around to share in managing the chaos.

So I tip my hat and throw out loads of respect to anyone who truly single-parents. I don't know how you do it without losing your mind or at least maintaining some semblance of dignity.