My kids smell like maple syrup

I'm sure every mom has had the grumbling of sticky kids, sticky toys, sticky floors, tables, countertops, clothes, faucets, cars, pets, walls, ceilings, transmissions you name it. If you gives kids something sticky to consume, chances are they are going to get it everywhere. My kids have been on a pancake kick lately...like for the last 6 months. They'd live off pancakes if we let them. The good thing about it, is I can make a mega batch on Sundays and freeze them, and we're set for the week. And these are no ordinary pancakes either, no Aunt Jemima for us, homemade, from scratch pancake mix with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg, they are pieces of art really. Then they are drowned in maple syrup by my two little pancake monsters.

Said maple syrup is tracked everywhere and since my floors are granite tile, the only way to really see it is to step in it, which in socks, you've tracked it halfway around the house before you notice, or eventually it morphs and grows into a giant spot of stickiness with everything including the cat stuck to it. We don't actually have a cat, but I figure if we did, it would eventually get stuck to the spot. I am constantly wiping down the boys after breakfasts and despite using 70,000 wipes, the teachers still complain that other children are sticking to mine.

I used to fight against this, think about banishing the pancake. Why can't my kids eat cereal like other kids? Except Mister N doesn't really care for cereal, even the super sugary stuff we sometimes get for camping/Christmas and A Dude loathes all things dairy.

But then this morning, as A Dude is running around in a t-shirt and diapers, playing with the baby by my favourite window that lets in the perfect amount of morning light this time of year, I catch a whiff of him. He smells like maple syrup, in fact both my guys do (soon to be three once Baby D can enjoy), frequently. It's something I've missed in the hustle and bustle of family life. It's a good smell, it's one of those moments where I think I've created an association of that smell with my crazy boys. For all the hair pulling trouble they cause me, for the stickiness and yelling and picking up toys and pleading with them to please behave, for the love of God BEHAVE! They are precious. They are full of sticky kisses and dirty presents for us. They are in tune with our feelings and are the first to tell us not to worry and that they are well. They remind me not to sweat the small stuff, something I need to listen to much more. For the larger picture is that we are together, happy and we are all loved. If the transmission eventually corrodes due to excess syrup finding its way there and falls and sticks to the driveway, it really doesn't matter.