Ever since I was little, I dreamed of having a rolltop desk. I loved the thought of a carefully organized desk with little drawers and cubbyholes for envelopes, stamps, and letters. When my daughter Jacqueline was nearly a year old, my husband, Robert, and I shopped around and bought a beautiful dark oak rolltop desk with four little brass-trimmed drawers and five cubbyholes. Just sitting down at the desk made me feel organized and efficient.
Jacqueline shared my affection for my new desk and the endless toddler games she could create. Not only could she open the side drawers and fling my previously color-arranged stationery onto the floor, she also could throw my chair cushion to the ground, climb into my chair, and open the pencil drawer. I immediately went through the pencil drawer and removed everything that was either sharp or small enough to be a choking hazard. I stuffed all that I could into the little top drawers and the cubbyholes, which were still out of her reach. I looked despairingly at the overstuffed cubbyholes with no semblance of organization. It’s not so bad, I reasoned; this childproofing time of life will not last long.
Triple Play: Family Home Activities Change with Triplets
Then when Jacqueline was 21 months old, our identical triplets, Lillian, Emma, and Claire, were born, instantly doubling our family size. Sitting at my rolltop desk became a distant memory.
The first year was a hazy blur of diapering four bottoms and nursing three babies. Even in my sleep-deprived, bone-weary state, I marveled at how mothers rise to the occasion when their children need them and how quickly our priorities change. My beautiful rolltop desk--which now serves mainly as a receptacle for all the projects that I never have time to do--suddenly seemed less significant to me, but I didn’t realize just how far I had come until Jacqueline’s third birthday.
Infants' Activities Can Overwhelm Parents of Triplets
On the day of her party, I needed to change the triplets’ diapers just before the guests arrived. I had changed two diapers and was working on the third when the doorbell rang.
At that moment, the recently toilet-trained Jacqueline shouted from the bathroom, “Mommy, Daddy, come look! I have a surprise to show you.”
Robert called out from the bedroom, "I’ll take care of Jacqueline if you get the door.” At this point, the diaperless Claire had squirmed away from me and was making a break for the hallway.
The doorbell rang again.
I scooped up Claire with my right arm and grabbed the two dirty diapers with my left hand. Emma suddenly let loose with a spine-tingling scream as she and Lillian engaged in a tug of war over one of Jacqueline’s sandals. Emma then reached over to bite Lillian’s arm. I shouted “No!” and rushed over to pick up Lillian, holding her in the crook of my left arm. I still had the half-naked Claire on my right arm and two dirty diapers in my left hand.
“Does Jacqueline have any clean underpants?” called Robert from down the hall.
The doorbell rang again.
Desperate, I opened my rolltop desk and tossed the dirty diapers inside. I then put Lillian down on the floor, next to Jacqueline’s other sandal. I carried Claire with me to open the door, said hello to my sister-in-law, and then headed off to diaper Claire and find clean underpants for the birthday girl. The party was soon under way with ten children under the age of four, and we all had a great time.
Junk Mail: Toddler Parenting is Full of Surprises
Two days later we were rushing to clean up our house, which was for sale. A couple had just phoned and been told by my husband that this was “a great time” to see our house. As the doorbell rang, I had just finished spraying air freshener in every room with a diaper pail or changing table. Our house never smells particularly nice anymore, but that day the odor seemed especially bad.
Robert showed the house while I distracted the girls. As the couple was leaving, they asked what the property taxes had been last year. I opened my rolltop desk to look for our check and to my horror--and everybody’s displeasure--out rolled those two dirty diapers from the party two days before.
The prospective buyers suddenly seemed less interested in our property taxes and quickly headed for the door. Robert and I could barely contain our laughter.
Two years ago when I first got my rolltop desk, I never would have believed such a scene could have happened. I still have dreams of someday having a perfectly organized desk. For now, though, I just wish there were a cubbyhole the right size for a container of baby wipes.
Lisa Helene Bain is a mother and freelance writer in Grants Pass, Oregon.
The full version of this story first appeared in "Welcome Home," July, 1998. "Welcome Home" is a publication of Family and Home Network.