The Sofia Effect

Why can two adults handle two children, but three adults can not handle three kids? Tonight, I sat there amazed at how, even with an extra set of hands, my world felt absolutely chaotic. Not sure how to wrap my head around it,  my sister  explained what she calls the Sofia Effect. Relief flooded in from the ability to finally name my dilemma. 

The Sofia Effect, as defined by my sister is a mathematical formula. Two children create an addition situation. When you have a child, one more child adds to the chaos. Three children creates a multiplication situation.  When you add on another child, the effect is a multiplication of the chaos. 

In my house, the Sofia Effect is in full bloom. Somehow the mess that two children can make explodes exponentially when there is a third to take care of. Between the 300 plus toys strewn across my living room, the poop piles in the bedroom, the full dishwasher, sink and counters, the dirty laundry tucked in random corners, shoes under tables and chairs, pink tutu's, glow in the dark bracelets and bag of frozen chicken open and all over my freezer, I somehow made it out alive. At the end of the day, I can say that three is definitely harder than two, but  with a sister who can make my children light up like it is christmas and the help of my amazing husband we made it through the day, the kids had a blast and the house is put back into functioning order. I even made chocolate pudding and stir-fry. Now to enjoy my homemade peach sauce with some vanilla ricotta and the few moments of peace and quiet as my children sleep, because the Sofia Effect is even stronger at night.