Thankful for a moment’s peace

A friend recently told me that my house was nonstop noise. “There’s not a moment’s peace,” she said.

Don’t I know it.

Between my 7- and 8-year-old sons and 3-year-old daughter, someone always is singing, stomping, chasing, fighting, dancing, pounding, banging, playing, bouncing or hollering. Well, the last one is mostly me, but …

As I sat discussing this with my parents over dinner the other night, the 7-year-old looks at me and says, “We’re quiet sometimes. We go to sleep.”

We all started to laugh.

I don’t think I need to tell any parent how impossibly nice it is to have a few minutes of alone time or even just quiet time every once in a while. We all sometimes gasp for the fresh air of an hour or two to do what we want or need to do uninterrupted.

But that’s not what this column is about today. Yes, I sometimes crave quiet. But I love chaos more.

This week is Thanksgiving and I am sharing with you a list of things I am grateful for, all thanks to the little people who make my house lively.

— I am thankful for the constant chatter of my 3-year-old who suddenly has my undivided attention after we have dropped her brothers off somewhere. I am thankful to hear about the dog that has spots like a cow, that her shoe came off, the song she just learned at preschool, what she would like for dinner, that the red light means stop, how the goal on the school practice field we’re passing looks like the letter H, that so-and-so got a time-out at the babysitter and can she have a sip of my water? — all in a span of 2 minutes;

— I am thankful for seemingly endless openings and closings of the front and back doors, the door bell and the ringing phone. More often than not these days, this means my boys are going out to play with their friends next door, their friends are coming over, or friends are calling to ask to play. As a mom, I love that they have other little people to play with on a daily basis. Not to mention, the arrival of a third or fourth person often keeps my boys from fighting with each other;

— I am thankful for giggles and whispers and cold feet sneaking into our bed on Saturday mornings. For the buzz of SpongeBob being turned on as someone snuggles into my side, and the screams for my husband’s pancakes or French toast that usually follow;

— I am thankful for shouts of exhilaration that come from the top of the swingset playhouse;

— I am thankful for the singing of silly, made-up songs;

— I am thankful for the thud, thud, thud of the basketball;

— I am thankful for dancing in socks on the wood kitchen floor while Jack Johnson’s “Banana Pancakes” blares from the CD player;

— I am thankful for the banging of my pots and pans when they decide to play cooks;

— I am thankful for ribble-rabble of three Big Wheels being pedaled across the brick walkway.

Most of all, I am simply grateful for my children. Yes, our house is often chaotic and can make even the most patient person — which I’m not — snap at their rambunctious ways. But I also love their racket, their learning, their testing, their exploring, their growing.

I am thankful to be their mom.

I am also thankful for my husband, who steps into the circus like a ringmaster when I need a break and a few moments’ peace.

• Mommy Talk is written by Racine, Wis. Journal Times reporters Janine Anderson and Marci Laehr Tenuta.