The Mess

We've had a few firsts here this week and a few setbacks as well.

First, the good news.

I am teaching her to pick her clothes and put them in the hamper when she takes them off. Telling her to do it doesn't work.

Want to know what works? Make a game of it: I make the loudest "woop woop woop" sound that sounds like a fire truck, or an alarm - or maybe it's just annoying enough - but whatever the sound is technically called it's working. Tonight she put her PJ's on and put all her clothes in the hamper.

We celebrate the small wins here. 😄

Good news item number 2:

I was downstairs in the mens room and of course as soon as I sit down, I am the most needed person in the whole house. BW isn't feeling well tonight with a sore throat so she's calling me from the bedroom wanting tylen0l and sympathy and then of course the child decides that I am the most popular person in the world and she wants me too. Right Now.

Lastly - to add insult to injury I can hear the dog eating something it's not supposed to.

BW screams across the house in her hoarse voice and asks the child to check the dog and pull out of it's mouth whatever it is it's not supposed to chew on.

During all of this I am, um... indisposed.

When the dust has settled and I have regained my composure I come upstairs to see what the hell is so important that my family can't behave itself for just a few minu--

oh wait. look at this!

I find her upstairs reading her new book from the library.

I need to take a moment and mark this event as it's pretty big! She was reading her book alone by herself. No tablet required. I think maybe our rule of no tablet during the week is working and when you have no other choice you read.

When I asked her if she got whatever the heck the dog was eating she t0ok one eye off of her book to look at me and said to me matter-of-factly:

"She swallowed it".

Then right back to reading.

I hope the dog um...disposes of whatever she ate.

The Mess

A few weeks back we had thought about getting the child a loft bed and went shopping online and realized these things were hundreds of dollars for something that doesn't look like it would fall apart overnight.

But we had an old under-used desk. And if we moved her bed 90 degrees, then there would be more room so we brought up the desk and all her papers and books and crayons and even bought 2 new folding chairs so she could have her friend Ethel over to play and draw too.

There's just one problem:

Find the desk.

We're going to have to revisit this plan. There are so many half eaten and half broken crayons and god knows what else on this desk that there's no room for the play, so guess what happens? The crap comes downstairs to the kitchen table instead.

This defeats the plan entirely. We moved the desk/crayons so the creativity and more importantly: the stuff - would stay upstairs and not get strewn around the house

We're going to have to work on this idea some it seems.

Bonus story if you've read this far:

If you look closely you will see a bowl of rice and other stuff in it. It's a sensory bowl that she seems to love even though she's a little big for it.

She and her friend were playing with it and of course left it on the floor after they were done.

I finally figured out what the dog was eating: It was Chinese Food.