The Mess

My children are helpful around the house…if pressed.    They will clean up a mess if they’ve made it…if you tell them they have to.   They like to be involved in what you’re doing…especially if it involves something good to eat.   In short, they’re children.

I am proud that they will clean up a mess without too much wailing, although they will push any weak point they can find if they think you’re going to cave and clean up the mess they made quickly so we all can go to lunch.     Today they made such a mess.   They told me it was a mess.   They warned me that not only was their room a mess, their playroom, closet and back storage areas were also total wrecks too.

They were right.    They didn’t want to clean up, but eventually they did most of the work and I was able to organize some things in the process.   I was worried we wouldn’t make lunch, especially given that we’d already blown past snack time with a standing order that no one could set foot past their bedroom door until everything was in Mary Poppin’s Spit Spot order.

There is a fine line between mess that sparks creativity and chaos that stifles it.  In part, I hated cleaning some of it up because they’d come up with some very imaginative things with what they’d done.   We made sure to keep some of those new things out so they could play with them again soon.

This evening they did another round of messy imagination play with the whirlwind that is their closet of toys in the basement.   With strange implements from the lands of Super Heroes and my children’s imagination, my husband, children and dog fought evil from all directions.  

The Big Boy Update:   For our super hero play in the basement tonight my son told me, “Mom you have the power of when you kiss them they turn into good guys.”   I didn’t see a lot of bad guys, but I did a lot of kissing (which was followed by giggling) to make sure my children stayed good guys.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter is usually first with gymnastic, physical or acrobatic things but tonight my son had one on her.   I was going to change one of the swings out on our play set with a different type of swing.   My son told me he could get up on the A-frame bar to help.   I was surprised: that bar is high up and hard for me to climb onto.   My son showed me how by using the rope swing and his arms and legs, he could lever himself up and then could hold on and stand up on the support beam.   He then showed me how he could get down.   My daughter watched the entire time and then said she wanted to try.   She’s a little smaller, but she watched what he had done and followed the same procedure to get up.   She isn’t about to be outdone when it comes to something on the swing set.

Fitness Update:  Our sitter had the children at a park out on a picnic today and I decided to combine two fun things into one trip.   I got on running gear and ran to the shopping strip to get a manicure.   I took the long way around via the park and greenway to get some extra distance in.   I’m not sure if that was a good idea in the ninety-two degree weather, but by the time I figured that out I was committed.   I took the shorter, more nerve-racking route home down the sidewalk-less road towards our neighborhood.   Manicure and seven miles, the hot and sweaty route.