May 23, 2006
would you believe me if I said I was wearing an apron? because I totally WASN’T
In the past 36 hours, I have . . .
made spring pea and goat cheese salad (from this month’s Real Simple)
cleaned the kitchen
loaded, run, and unloaded the dishwasher–twice
made all the beds, including putting clean sheets on the Big Bed
cleaned the master bathroom (okay, I wiped the surfaces with a Clorox wipe and replaced the basket we use to hold all our shower stuff–still! looks clean! smells clean! and no more old conditioners in the shower! because some of those conditioners were really mildewy and sad and not even the right formula for my hair)
put away five loads of laundry, some of which I actually washed and dried today
mopped my kitchen floor (because I dropped an ENTIRE martini shaker of iced coffee on it, which was really such a tragedy)
reorganized my pantry, including restocking the shelf of self-serve snacks and arts and crafts stuff
excavated my laundry room (stupidly, I did this AFTER I did the laundry)
cleaned out the cabinets in the guest bathroom defused two major meltdowns
I have still not identified the smell in the crisper, but the rest of my house is looking good. Okay, PARTS of my house are looking good–the laundry room and pantry are beautiful, and the master bath looks pretty good, and the kitchen was in great shape until I had to feed those damn kids. But! The hallway between the pantry and laundry room is full of Crap To Give Away, which is a bummer as it also doubles as the entry from the garage. So guess what Wade will see when he comes home! Yep, the big pile of crap. Welcome home!
No, I’m not drunk, nor am I channeling Caitlin Flanagan (although she DOES have me thinking about this whole housewife thing A LOT lately). Today is the First Day of Summer Vacation at my house (as my kids have reminded me no fewer than four million times: “Mama, today is the first day of summer! Can we go to Target and buy a toy? Why isn’t the pool open? We don’t have to go to school any more! Can we go to Braum’s? And what about some new toys?” Ugh). For some demented reason, I’ve been romanticizing the start of summer–the boys and I would lounge in our pajamas and play in the yard and go to the park and read stories and just enjoy being home.
Even though my house is a pit and I don’t actually own any pajamas (I sleep in yoga pants, people, get your minds out of the gutter) and it’s hot as hell here ALREADY.
So this morning, I took the kids to the park, early, before it got hot and they spent the entire hour playing–together (read: fighting) and alone (read: complaining to me about how the other child hated him). Finally they decided to hide under a tree, which was great as they were no longer fighting or whining. After about 20 minutes, Charlie popped out and announced happily, “Okay, time to go home!”
It was 9:27 am.
“How about we play for a little longer and then go for coffee?” I suggested.
“Nope!” Charlie said. “Let’s go home now.”
“Come on, buddy . . . ” I said.
“I have to go potty,” Charlie said.
“Starbucks has a potty.”
“I have to poop,” Charlie said, “and I want to poop at home.”
“I have to poop, too!” Henry said from the tree.
Charlie started to laugh. “So let’s go home and poop!”
Really, how can you argue with that?
When we got home and took care of the pooping, the boys both said, “What are we going to do NOW?” And I offered them all sorts of things: we could play in the yard! get out a game! read! draw!
No no no, they said.
So I said, fine, you’re on your own, I’m going to clean out the pantry. And dammit if those kids didn’t entertain themselves until lunchtime. They played with sticker books and drew pictures and got out the Army men and took turns setting them up and knocking them down with a pink and yellow tennis ball. Charlie painted and Henry played with K’Nex and NO ONE COMPLAINED. It was lovely.
And at the end of it all, big parts of my house were clean. What a great start to summer!
How many drinks days until school starts?
Posted by Susan @ 4:16 pm • Uncategorized
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May 23rd, 2006 at 4:56 pm, Meredith Says:
“So let’s go home and poop!” That is totally going to be my new catch phrase!
Plus, really, pooping in Starbucks is so 2001.
I hope that you get to enjoy the clean house before another 36 hour cleaning whirlwind strikes!
May 23rd, 2006 at 6:37 pm, MJ Says:
Wow. I’m so impressed. I’m trying to start cleaning up my house (read: move our crap into closets) so the cleaning lady can find the floor, but I got stopped at the computer and the glass of wine.
Unlike you, I never seem to do anything useful when my children (rarely) amuse themselves. (I’m not sure if reading blogs can be defined as “useful.” Amusing, yes. Useful, no.) I’m going to try and emulate your behaviour.
May 23rd, 2006 at 6:44 pm, Susan Says:
MJ, I seem to recall announcing to the boys, after they refused all my offers of fun, “Well okay then! I’m going to clean, and you will need to amuse yourselves!” Because usually when they decide to play together I do something really useful, like take a nap. You know.
And just for the record, that whole Entertain Yourselves bit almost NEVER works out for me. So yay me!
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:14 pm, mama_tulip Says:
Quote of the day:
“So let’s go home and poop!”
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:44 pm, Kristen Says:
Oooh, I rejoice when the boys play together peacefully for even 10 minutes. A couple of hours sounds like paradise.
May 23rd, 2006 at 8:53 pm, Granny Says:
This is probably a stupid comment but if your crisper is on the floor of your fridge, have you looked under it?
Sometimes something small falls down behind and dies.
What a day you had.
I have a grown son who refused to poop anywhere but home (with a book, music, and an hour to spare). Good thing they have two bathrooms. Used to drive me nuts.
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:06 pm, standing still for once Says:
Oh, yes, the mysterious frig reekage. No idea what you should do, since I cannot figure it out here.
Cultivating their ability to entertain themselves is a high priority. Esp. these days with overscheduled kids. Says the mother who just signed her kid up for 4 days of baseball day camp the week after school is out in Minnesota, only to have her son say, “But, I want free time.” Buck up, kid, your hitting needs some work.
May 23rd, 2006 at 11:43 pm, Mary Tsao Says:
My kids are fine when I’m cleaning. It’s me being on the computer that makes them all crazy and whiney.
Darn.
May 24th, 2006 at 4:54 am, Molly Says:
Same here, Mary. Mine is only six months old, but if I put him in his bouncy chair and move around and clean stuff, he’s fine. Just let me sit down and turn on the laptop, though, and the fussing commences.
I usually clean house during his morning nap, since I can run back and forth to the basement while he’s safely asleep, but maybe I should figure out something else and use morning nap time for Internet time. This whole baby thing has seriously impacted my blogging and blog-reading time. I haven’t read my political blogs in months. I have no idea what kind of evils are really being perpetrated behind the scenes in Washington that we don’t hear about on the news.
May 24th, 2006 at 6:23 am, Mamacita Tina Says:
Oh, how you give me hope that when my kids are older they will actually play together and give me time to get something done, like read a book.
May 24th, 2006 at 7:10 am, Candace Says:
June 1st is our D-Day.
Oh, I lie. My mother is coming to get them for a 2-week away-from-mommy vacation. I am one lucky girl.
But after that! After that the “fun” will begin in earnest and I, too, will be counting the days until school starts.
And in the fall? TWO kids in school FULL TIME. Commence the envy.
May 24th, 2006 at 2:15 pm, Granny Says:
There wasn’t a comment line on your latest post so I’m letting you know here that I’m copying the link to granny.
The more people who know about this little girl, the better.
Ann
May 24th, 2006 at 2:17 pm, Granny Says:
I linked to her blog instead.
Thanks, Susan. Blogging Baby has it as well.
May 25th, 2006 at 2:02 pm, thordora Says:
I just wanted to respond to your post on BB about your son. You aren’t failing him. I wish you didn’t have to feel that way. The fact that you are trying to do something for him…that’s wonderful, and something I wish I had.
Don’t let anyone make you feel like a failure. Some people (myself included) are wired wrong. And sometimes, there isn’t much we can do about that. Keep in mind that ADHD kids, “weird” kids, turn out to be the coolest people. I took awhile to find my “self”. Your son will too.