thursday i'm in gloves

i tried to blog yesterday, i really did, but blogger decided to go on a sucking binge and break down for quite some time. i am glad it is back up and running. i am filled with anxiety today and blogging really calms that down for me.

one of my favorite "mommy tricks" i keep in my arsenal comes into play every thursday. thursday round here is toy box (that's what i call our home) cleaning day. normally chunk chooses thursday as the day she refuses to nap, and ge turns into a needy mess, and i am left pulling out my hair and scrubbing in between the madness. i love ge, and i love that he wants to help, but his idea of cleaning and my idea of cleaning are completely different. and so, a few months ago, i devised a plan to keep him occupied. i thought about drugging chunk to help her, but then i remember that is wrong. very, very, wrong.

i declared thursday to be craft day! brilliant mom! i wait until chunk's long nap (the one that is at least a half an hour) and i set ge up with a craft i can trust him to do on his own while i set about blasting the bathrooms with bleachy goodness. it is a win / win because ge loves it, and it is good for him, and my bathrooms finally smell good and become so fresh and so clean clean! i can normally fit both bathrooms into this time frame and then i cross my fingers and hope that this thursday will be the toy box cleaning day that chunk sleeps for at least an hour.

if not i can normally set her up in her chair to watch her brother be creative, and they are both happy with that option, while i work on whatever room they are currently in. i have learned the tricks of transportation and bribery to pull of a cleaning job that i can feel good about, which, on average, consumes about 6 of my hours during the day. oh, ocd, how i love thee.

and ge and i often keep an open dialog going so i can also try and have a teaching moment with him. i love the painting crafts because we can talk about colors, and which colors mix together to create other colors. he starts off creating little patchworks of color, but paints all find a way to mix together and eventually it is a gray / brown mess of color, but he is pleased because this is his work, and he still has enough innocence to be proud of himself.

and the kid is thorough and paints every space available. and my bathrooms are sparkling. and chunk is still a horrible beast, but we love her anyway. in the other rooms ge picks up and wipes things off as he helps me clean the rest of the house. thursday is process, an often stressful one, but i have eliminated a large chunk of that stress for myself an ge with craft time. plus, i have a lot of fun little things to keep from this time in his life.