Dear Reader,
My house was a disaster! I needed to vacuum, but there wasn’t enough space to even push the vacuum around! I always start with the same area of the house, it’s usually the cleanest, so it’s a good way to get the ball rolling, so to speak. And I progressively move to the toy room, which, consequently is my front room while we are trying to remodel the basement (aka two rooms of stuff in one room. Not a good lifestyle vibe. Not ever to be pictured in a home magazine or Pinterest board). By the time I got one room clean and moved onto the next, the previous room was in shambles! I’ve got 3 little tornados following me and undoing everything I’ve done. I was exhausted! I just needed to catch a break! I needed to vacuum, so I couldn’t just wait until naptime for fear of waking babies up. But cleaning while they’re awake is like, as my mother loves to say, “shoveling snow while it’s still snowing.”
Sound familiar?
I was at wit’s end! I don’t like messes. My brain is a direct mirror of my house. If my house is crazy, my brain is, too (And I am not a neat freak. I’m not really good at cleaning, so my brain is often crazy). I needed this place clean and I needed it clean days ago! I needed clarity. I needed a way to keep my kids wrangled. So, I buckled my kids in their high chairs, raided my kitchen for something safe to ingest (though that wasn’t the point) but fun to play with, and landed on my oat bucket. I grabbed the paintbrushes that still weren’t put away from Halloween activities, poured a handful of oats on the trays and walked away.
Did I have a mess to clean up afterwards? Definitely yes. But a) it was dry, so the vacuum took care of it (and I had to vacuum anyway… yes, I have carpet in my kitchen. I am currently typing this while sitting on the lifeproof flooring that may eventually get installed…. I hope. I plead with my to-do lists to eventually have time) and b) it was in one spot instead of every room of my house.
But furthermore, I could give myself a little pat on the back because while I was obviously just trying to keep them busy, I was also being a good mom and giving my kids sensory play. I’m teaching them the basics of holding writing devices. I’m letting them explore taste, texture, little items to squish in their little hands. And, oats are totally good for your skin! Score, lol.
After I had the rest of the house all clean (which was surprisingly fast when I didn’t have kids undoing my progress; though it was still a little hampered because I demanded that older sister got involved and she needed coaching on how to stay on task and where things go, and oldest sister needed reminded to speak nicely and not worry about dictating and just clean up for herself while she was being “forced” to clean, as well – we’ve all been teens before. We remember), I gave the girls a drink (figured dry oats needed some moisture in those little tummies), sent them to watch a show with everyone else, wiped down their trays and vacuumed below their high chairs and celebrated my victory!
