De-messing

That's not a word, but it's what it felt like we were doing all day today.   We keep a fairly tidy house, but the amount of mess that seems to accumulate astounds me.   When the children were younger, they would pull out toy after toy, many of them consisting of lots of pieces, and the children's mess would be a large part of things. 

These days they can make a mess, but they have to clean it up, albeit with reminders, and sometimes help when it gets late.   They get their own food some of the time and that should make things easier, but wrappers, cups, lunch dishes, and all manner of other food-related things that they should be cleaning up, but don't happen.   On the one hand. it's nice that they can feed themselves—although the quality of their selections is not necessarily good.  On the other hand, there's dealing with what happens when they feed themselves. 

Today, in addition to getting ready for my parents to come to town for the first time since March, we were getting ready for the upcoming holiday.  We were de-messing the house as well as doing the largest collection of laundry I think we've seen in these parts in a long time.   One thing or another had kept me from getting everything washed and things that had been washed hadn't been folded.   

We expect the children to fold their laundry, which is an exercise in patience on our part as we deal with the whining about the misery of the task.   Since my son is on holiday, we let him watch television while he folded his clothes from the five large loads I'd done.   

Four hours later and he was still folding.   Patience, I tell you.    He was distracted by the television, but I didn't mind so much because he was fine folding it.    He got it done eventually, had a shower complaining all the while (because he was tired), and then fell straight to sleep. 

Tomorrow and Tuesday my daughter has distanced learning school and then we're all off until after the new year.   I'm looking forward to Christmas, but I think I'm equally looking forward to after Christmas, what with the way things have been going here. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son's secret gift exchange went well on Friday.   His teacher (he had drawn her name) really liked what he'd made for her.   I think my son thought the best gift was the one he got from Tyler, who created him a huge Villager character from Minecraft.   It's sitting beside his computer where he plays Minecraft.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Did I mention my daughter wants to get her hair cut as short as a boy's typical haircut?   She has the most beautiful blonde hair that's long and has finally gotten thicker so it's not flyaway and fine.    I got her an appointment to get it cut on Wednesday and told Sue her intentions and if she could please help dissuade her, I would appreciate it.   I explained to my daughter that I would be glad to pay to get her hair cut twice if she would consider cutting something like six inches off and leaving the rest.   She's not sure yet.   I told her she can always go back a second time and that I would take her.  What she can't do is get the hair back once it's cut.  She's changed her mind in the past and said she never wants to cut her hair.   I don't want her to regret getting it cut after it's too late.