Nov 20 2008
What’s the point?
Allow me to preface this by saying, aside from moving on in the finals for the writing contest, this week is not going very awesome. The next person who complains to me that the twos are terrible, needs to take a few minutes and borrow my three-year-old ‘cuz I can tell you three is so much worse.
Today, I cleaned my little tail-feather off. I packed up clothes that the kids have grown out of, and pulled out clothes that have been handed down to us and fit them now. I organized toys and got rid of anything that was broken or would be good to go to charity. I organized all of the toys into three bins: one for blocks, one for cars and trains, and one for random other toys. Books were placed back on shelves.
I just put the kids in their respective napping rooms a little while ago. Not twenty minutes into “nap” time and I hear the familiar sound of blocks being poured out of the first bin. Then the cars, then the toys.
Tell me, exactly, what the heck is the point in ever cleaning and organizing when you have kids?
It’s not just toys either. Take the kitchen floor, for instance. I sweep it, I scrub it, and it looks awesome. One messy meal later (and to Bean, the sloppiest eater I have ever met, every meal is a messy meal), and the floor looks like something out of one of Oprah’s “Oh My Gosh, Look How Awfully Messy This Person’s House Is” specials.
Don’t even get me started on what it’s like to clean while kids are home…
Too late, I already got me started.
While I was cleaning my butt off today, organizing toys that would be spilled everywhere a short period of time later, my kids were in the living room, destroying it. I came out to find the couch cushions off, the couch pushed up against the wall the wrong direction, and popcorn strewn all over the place. A DVD was placed in the windowsill and chopsticks lay strewn about. (Yes, chopsticks.) When the kids got bored with wreaking havoc on the living room and wanted to know what Mommy was up to, they came back and started taking toys out of the bins I was putting them into.
Can someone tell me why a toy, that is never played with, is suddenly interesting when it is being put away or given to charity?
Bargh.
Frustrating, I tell ya. Frustrating. This is a big huge case in point why I don’t bother chasing my kids around and cleaning up after them all day. I’m pretty sure if I did that, I’d damn near go insane. Hats off to other moms that have the patience for keeping their houses spotlessly clean, though. I am truly amazed by you!
I TOTALLY agree with you! I only clean once a day, before bed. That was I know it’ll stay clean for a while. During the day, there’s no telling what you might come across in various places in the house. I always tell people, if you are coming to my house and have issues against messes, you had best come after 8pm!
And, I second that the threes are much worse then the twos. I don’t know who came up with “the terrible twos” but I am assuming it was a first time parent who hadn’t been thru the 3s yet!
Although I was dealing with the lovely 2’s earlier this week and wondering how it could possibly get worse….my friend who has 4 kids said that “3 is the new 2…but with an extra year of experience.”