Maddie and Cora have become a bit, um slow in getting ready to head out somewhere: shoes can never be located, Silkies can never be found quickly, must have one more drink of water, must finish game, and so on. I’ve been working on finding a way to help them hustle a bit faster, and with a happy heart. I’ve also been trying to plan a little more spontaneity (hah!) into our daily lives, and I finally hit upon something that seems to cover both bases.

“Listen up, folks, I’ve got a family announcement,” I said at dinner last night. Everyone stared at me apprehensively.

I went to my women’s Bible study last night and came home after the girls had gone to bed. Yep, missing bed time is just one of the perks of digging into the Good Book! Anyway, I made my rounds of the rooms, knowing the girls were “waiting up” for me. Maddie was awake and hyper and ready to chat, so it took a few minutes to get myself out an into Cora’s room.

I found Cora huddled almost completely under the blankets – including the down comforter. Only the tip of her nose and part of her eyes were showing; everything else was covered up. She was, of course, drenched in sweat, and I could tell by the amount of sweat on her ringlets that she was less than half an hour away from waking herself up from being so hot, crying for a few minutes, then going back to sleep, covers flung back.

This is a thing of Cora’s, obviously. She won’t go to sleep unless the blankets are pulled up, and even if I go easy with them she scrunches down. Then she gets unbearably hot, natch, and wakes up, sweating profusely and calling for mommy.

A friend of mine had a baby last week (hi baby Ben!) and while she was in the hospital recovering I took her two boys for the day. I love the boys, who are wonderful, and who love my girls. They’re well-mannered, kind, are raised similarly to mine, and a joy to have around.

But still – four kids under the age of 5 could be hard. I felt up to it, but was a bit worried how I’d fill a ten-hour day. I couldn’t take the kids to the pool – there’s no way I can watch Cora and two-year-old Nate at the same time. But I figured out a few fun things, planned as well as I could, and picked them up.

Everything went incredibly well the entire morning. We headed to our outdoor nature museum and had a great time. The four kids stayed together, were respectful and kind towards each other, and stayed away from the poison ivy. We ate a picnic outside, examined coyote poop on the trail, walked through the butterfly garden, and got nice and exhausted.

Things went so well that I have to confess I got a little cocky. All four children are blonde, and it was clear most people thought they were all mine, and I could feel the admiring glances – look how well this woman handles four kids! What poise! What relaxed confidence! I fully acknowledge, by the way, that the main reason it was so easy is that Nate and Sam have been raised excellently, with outstanding obedience skills and great manners. But I was more than happy to take the credit, and as I drove home for nap time I felt a bit like Super Mom.

And then things didn’t go so well.

Cora’s quite the sensory girl: we’ve already figured out that she is incredibly tactile, touching and rubbing against everything in an effort to get to know it better. Just think about my blogs describing the way she rubs my hair over her face in ecstasy. And she’s quite a super-taster, too – she put many more things in her mouth (unfortunately) as a baby than Maddie ever did. And her hearing is extraordinary –she’ll hear Brian come home late at night, hours past her bedtime, when our door alarm chimes softly (across the house, on another floor, through her closed door, with her air purifier and night-night music on) and immediately begin chanting, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”

But nothing beats that kid’s sense of smell.