Alternate title: You pay for every moment alone (but you know how I love alliteration.)

We are entering a new phase of independence. At three-and-a-half and five-and-a-half, my kids now play independently for a good portion of the day (am I allowed to say that out loud?) And I love it, do not take lightly, and most definitely pay for it in terms of mess and overall destruction of the house.

I want to be one of those moms who has taught her kids to put away toys as they go. To require one area to be thoroughly tidied before they move onto the next. To have labeled boxes and a working "system."

Turns out, I am not that mom.

You've probably heard the phrase, "Don't wake a sleeping baby." My mantra is "Don't interrupt happily playing kids"--even if that means they move from making robots with foam paint brushes and athletic tape in the kitchen to rescuing the fine folks of Adventure Bay on the living room ottomans to performing ninja moves on a pile of couch cushions in the loft (in a span of three minutes!)

Silence is suspicious, yes. Sometimes silence means they've found the adult scissors, are squirting tooth paste into a bin of dried beans as a science experiment, or have taken the cap off EVERY marker in the art drawer and left it on the floor (I'm speaking from experience here). But silence also signals independence. Silence is also sweet and silly and saving my sanity.

Below are some images where I tried to find the beauty in the aftermath of alone time.

This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series “Still Motherhood”.