Today I did a little teeny bit of spring cleaning---I tried to tidy up the porch, one of my most favorite places to be in the spring. I tried to tidy it up while Luke and Amanda were around, which reminds me why I don't usually try to do that.
First I swept the leaves off the porch. Luke helped first by grabbing the broom and swinging it wildly around. I don't know what babies have with brooms several times taller than they are, but my kids loved swinging brooms around. I finally gave him a hand broom and rescued my broom from him. He then proceeded to sit in the middle of the pile of leaves and pick them up with the hand broom and throw them around. Amanda helped by hiding behind the pieces of porch furniture and by picking up the leaves that were stuck between the floor boards of the porch.
Then I needed to wash off the chalk from the walls. I had started letting the kids write on the wall with chalk one day when it had been raining for about a week and we really needed to get out of the house, but there was no where to go... Chalk is washable, I figured, and it will keep us from going crazy---and so 3 years later, here we are.
Amanda helped by taking the sponge and washing for about 3 minutes, and then going out to wash her tricycle. Luke helped by trying to suck on the sponge. When I gave him the whisk broom instead, he put that in the water and swept it around the porch. Then he helped by trying to get into the water basin, over and over again. We ended when he fell over while getting into the water basin, tipping it over and giving himself a black eye. Whew, that was exhausting! I was reminded again why I don't do spring cleaning more often.
On the other hand, since Michael is out tonight, I had to put all 3 kids to sleep. The problem is that Luke and Amanda go to bed at the same time---but tonight, Eleanor read to Amanda, helped her brush her teeth, and got her tucked into bed while I nursed Luke to sleep. Eleanor is a bit excited----sitting still is not one of her strengths, and so Amanda tends to be a little riled up after being put to sleep by Eleanor. But overall, I was happy to have a big girl to be a big help. I rewarded her by letting her watch a movie (Peter Pan!) before bed.
First I swept the leaves off the porch. Luke helped first by grabbing the broom and swinging it wildly around. I don't know what babies have with brooms several times taller than they are, but my kids loved swinging brooms around. I finally gave him a hand broom and rescued my broom from him. He then proceeded to sit in the middle of the pile of leaves and pick them up with the hand broom and throw them around. Amanda helped by hiding behind the pieces of porch furniture and by picking up the leaves that were stuck between the floor boards of the porch.
Then I needed to wash off the chalk from the walls. I had started letting the kids write on the wall with chalk one day when it had been raining for about a week and we really needed to get out of the house, but there was no where to go... Chalk is washable, I figured, and it will keep us from going crazy---and so 3 years later, here we are.
Amanda helped by taking the sponge and washing for about 3 minutes, and then going out to wash her tricycle. Luke helped by trying to suck on the sponge. When I gave him the whisk broom instead, he put that in the water and swept it around the porch. Then he helped by trying to get into the water basin, over and over again. We ended when he fell over while getting into the water basin, tipping it over and giving himself a black eye. Whew, that was exhausting! I was reminded again why I don't do spring cleaning more often.
On the other hand, since Michael is out tonight, I had to put all 3 kids to sleep. The problem is that Luke and Amanda go to bed at the same time---but tonight, Eleanor read to Amanda, helped her brush her teeth, and got her tucked into bed while I nursed Luke to sleep. Eleanor is a bit excited----sitting still is not one of her strengths, and so Amanda tends to be a little riled up after being put to sleep by Eleanor. But overall, I was happy to have a big girl to be a big help. I rewarded her by letting her watch a movie (Peter Pan!) before bed.
Comments
Lenise
They really are nice kids. Luke was helping me today by taking clothes out of the washer (we have a front loader). Unfortunately, he dumped them on the floor. Then he took the dirty clothes I was getting ready to wash out of the washer too. He looked so businesslike while he was helping, and so happy to be with me that it was impossible to be upset.
=] L