Rowan and I have undertaken a big project for the last couple of days. On Sunday evening we took down all the kitchen cabinet doors with the help of Daddy and Uncle Tim. Monday morning we headed to the home improvement store to get steel wool, stain & polyurethane, and new cabinet hardware. Miss Yolanda brought over the girls to play while I got a head start on the sanding; then, in the afternoon, Rowan "helped" me by hanging out in the garage and pretending that the Shop-Vac was a gas hose. He "filled up" everything that stood still! Today was a final coat, then waiting for things to dry. Rowan and I had a lunch outing, and it was the first of a series of realizations today about how grown up he is getting!
We headed to the Chick-fil-A near our house. I'd forgotten my wet wipes, so I really didn't want to put Rowan in a probably-slobber-covered high chair. I thought that maybe he would sit in a regular chair on his knees. But when I sat him on his butt, he could reach the table perfectly well! He sat there and ate all his food, with no assistance, and I sat across from him and we had a conversation. Wow, was that a fun lunch!
After his nap, it was time to start putting cabinet doors back on the frames. The first step was to put the hinges on the doors, and we did that in the garage. After watching me install a few hinges, Rowan got the idea. He'd take one, get its accompanying two screws, and put everything in place and wait for me to come with the drill to tighten the screws. He would say, "Go, Mommy, go! Use the drill!" He was actually helpful, which was completely unexpected. I mean, I was prepared for his participation not to be terribly detrimental (which is why I decided to take on the project that I had been longing to do ever since we moved into this house), but I never expected him to help me get anything done faster. He did, though, and what he did at the next stage of the installation was way more surprising to me.
I'd carried in a large cabinet door and was standing on the kitchen counter putting the screws into the hinges to attach the door to the frame. I got the top and bottom hinge placed in and had started tightening the top screw when I dropped a screw and it fell into a recess of the stovetop. Unfortunately I couldn't release the cabinet because it would have fallen down and possibly scratched everything, and the first screw had been very difficult to get in so I didn't want to take it back out and remove the whole cabinet just to get this other screw. Well, Rowan was playing on the floor and I said, "Hey Rowan, Mommy needs your help! Can you reach that little screw that fell into the stove?" He stood on tiptoes but was just short of reaching it. I started to back out the other screw to take down the cabinet door, when Rowan took off running away. Moments later he returned with the Winnie the Pooh footstool he uses to wash his hands and brush his teeth! He said, "Winnie the Pooh will make me taller." He placed the stool, stepped on it, grabbed the screw, and gave it to me. Wow!
I don't want to give too skewed a view here -- Rowan did lots of mischievous stuff today. He climbed on the stepladder I was using over and over, and got numerous timeouts for climbing up behind me and shaking the ladder. He dumped a bowl full of screws many times in the garage, despite explaining to me why it was a bad idea to do that (things could get lost, cabinets wouldn't be able to go up, the whole deal!) He wasn't interested in putting on his shoes when I told him to, and he cried every time I asked him to wash his hands. Despite the "terrible two" moments, we're all done with the project now! The garage is cleaned up and occupied by cars again, the cabinets are all put together and the new hardware looks great. I should be asleep now but I'm just sitting in the recliner looking through at the kitchen enjoying the feeling of completing a project I had been afraid to start for years now. And I'm so glad I have these precious moments working with Rowan to savor. That time is more valuable than the finished cabinets. For sure.
