Where Were The Other Three?

Since you people don't believe I let them play in the street, would you believe I let them play in the backyard? When we finish dinner we have three jobs: clean the dishes, make the boys go potty, and keep the girls from wandering into the bathroom to play in the toilet. So girl one is cleaned, changed and loosed to the backyard, then girl two gets the same treatment. Elaine is usually first because Alida likes to make sure she doesn't miss extra food. At the same time the boys are making the rounds in the bathroom and then go straight to the yard.

If one set of hands is aggravating when you are trying to load the dishwasher, imagine four sets of hands stealing the dirty dishes and running each to a different room to hide them. Benjamin opted to stay in and look at his catalog the other night. It is generally the perfect set up: three outside, one in. If you can get one boy out with two girls, outside boy is generally much nicer and much more patient with the ladies. This night Benjamin was picking out all of the things he wants for his birthday and Christmas, which is everything by the way. (He took that catalog to bed with him that night and when we went to check on them at 9:45 he was still laying on the floor reading by the light of the closet door.)

And that is how it is that the Dukes' mom is correct that one of four is actually one eighth as much work. They feed off each other. One child can be told to leave that alone, and he generally will.
Such as the exchange:
"Daddy has some work to do."
"Oh." And he goes back to his catalog.

When there are four, if you manage to get one convinced to leave a thing alone, there are three in queue, waiting to test your resolve. For example, try cleaning up the kitchen while four children play musical chairs around your feet some time.