Are you afraid of the dark?

I'm not.
But since becoming a mother I have developed a whole boat-load of other irrational fears that I would never have thought possible before having kids.

I'm afraid that they will get hit by a car crossing the street.  I'm worried that the school bus will get into an accident.  I don't like them playing on the stairs.  They have to wear hats while playing outside. I slather them in SPF 50.  Helmets are a must for almost EVERYTHING.  Fevers are monitored very closely.  Vitamins have to be taken at breakfast.  You get the picture?  I hover.  So does hubby.  It's our job.  Being trusted with the care and protection of these children?  Scary stuff!

The other day Ava started cleaning house like a mad woman.  Seriously, you might have thought the Queen was stopping by for a play-date.  She was THAT compulsed to organize, tidy and clean.  I took this at face value and I was just so pleased to not be doing the lion's share of the work around here for a change.  The cleaning streak has lasted for days, but yesterday the truth of the matter came out.  You see, at school, Ava has been learning about fire safety and prevention.  Seems her teacher made the point that one of the ways you can prevent a fire is by keeping a clean house.  Clean house=less items to catch fire.  So, the cleaning streak was motivated by her primal need to protect our home (READ: HER STUFF) from fire.  I get it.   She heard this cautionary advice coming from her teacher and ran with it.  She's also had lots of questions about how she can escape from her bedroom if there is fire outside her door, where we will gather if we are separated in the case of an emergency exit and MOM DO WE HAVE A FIRE SAFETY PLAN?????  No.  We do not.  Add that to my list of things to do and then press play on the fiery visions I now have of my kids jumping out their second story bedroom windows.

Sigh.  So many worries.  I'm a card-carrying type-A personality.  I worry, stress and go over the "what ifs" more than I should.  One of these days maybe I will be able to listen when someone tells me to "relax"?  Probably not.  I have 3 kids and in my books that's 3 times more worrying than if I was just looking after myself.  For now, I will still chase them with helmets and SPF.  I'll hold their hands when we cross the street and tell them "to stick like glue" when we are in a grocery store or busy place.  And we'll sit down over March Break and have that fire safety talk that Ava so desperately wants to have.

Do you want a copy???  Because you know it's going to be good if we've waited this long to write it down!!!