20 minutes of peace.... is it worth it?

We have this thing at our house called "Playtime-Rest Time".  

The boys get to spend some quiet time in their rooms while we all take a rest 

from the activity of the day.  It usually occurs sometime around 2 pm and lasts for about 

30 to 40 minutes.  I encourage them to play the toys they have on their shelves, 

listen to some quiet music, or read some books.   

Just recently, Johnny was upgraded from spending this playtime-rest time in his crib
to being able to play in his room with the baby gate up for a boundary.
He has become increasingly mischievous during these rest times as he takes
liberties to dump toys and attempt to undo any order I have arranged in his room.  

This past week, he reached a new level of "liberties".  It was quiet for about 20 minutes.
I knew I should have investigated, but I had to get my grocery list made.  I just had to.
So I gifted myself the 20 minutes of peace, knowing full well that I would pay for it.  

And pay for it I did.  I hear Howie gasp, "Johnny, what did you do?!"  

Here is the scene when I walked up the step to get him:

This pile contains:

• Every article of clothing Johnny had in his dresser.
• All of his books.
• All the diapers he owns, including the diapers that were in the economy box from diapers.com that were in his closet.
• All of his blocks.
• Several packages of wipes.
• One package of wipes that was opened and each wipe was individually thrown over the barrier and into the pile.

I pretended to be stern with him, "John.  We do not make this kind of mess."
But inside, I was laughing so hard.
While I wanted to end the messes being made, this one was pretty funny.
Together, we cleaned it up, he was happy to discover all the items in the pile and put them away.  

And it was worth the 20 minutes of peace.