This morning, Jaela dropped a glass. It just slipped out of her hands and went straight down. We all froze when we heard it hit the tile floor, and then looked. It was in one piece! Water went everywhere, but the glass hit squarely on the thick bottom, and the girls and I were SO impressed that it had not even cracked. Isaak, still in his highchair, even contributed an impressed-sounding "Oooh!" :) (And I made Jaela get a new glass, just in case!)
After lunch, Anya dropped a glass. She was getting out of her chair and fell. She dropped the glass in her chair, and we all heard it shatter. Isaak was still eating in his highchair, Jaela and Macey froze where they were, and I caught Anya in mid-air as broken glass shards showered all over the floor. She got one little cut on the top of her foot from a falling piece of glass, and after we had all admired the cut and given her a bandaid, the girls went upstairs to stay out of my way while I cleaned up the glass.
As I was sweeping, I began to think about the contrasts between the two events. One glass fell from 3 or 4 feet up onto a tile floor and stayed upright and unbroken. The other glass fell less than a foot onto a chair and broke spectacularly and with great drama. I was DEEP in thought. (Does that tell you how my morning has gone? DEEP in thought over two cheap glasses, in the middle of a giant clean-up job...) I'm sure that if I had thought hard enough I could have come up with a great, deep lesson to have learned from these two glasses, but as I was dumping the first dustpan-full of glass into the garbage, I heard giggling coming from the direction of Isaak's highchair. Gleeful giggling. There's just no other way to describe it.
He was taking double handfuls of yogurt out of his bowl, holding his fists up in the air over his head and squeezing. When the yogurt started to drip out between his fingers, he would move his head around, trying to catch all of the drips with his head. Giggling gleefully all the while. When his hands were empty, he would pull his yogurt covered hair up until it stood on end, and then, when he finally noticed me watching him, he grinned. Gleefully.
Did I learn any great, deep lessons from my Tale of Two Glasses?
Yes.
Don't leave even a partial bowl of yogurt in front of a toddler while you sweep up broken glass.
One of the girls' regular chores is to help empty the dishwasher -- they take care of their dishes and glasses, the silverware, the pots and pans, and anything else that is not breakable and they can reach where it goes. I do the plates, bowls, glass dishes and everything that belongs up high. I think we've got a good system going. :) Lately Isaak has been wanting to help too, so the girls give him something easy to put away and take his hand and guide him to the appropriate drawer or cupboard.
