Messy Perspective

I decided not to turn on the computer till afternoon yesterday. I had a few things on my agenda, and the computer, however useful for things like budgeting and paying bills, is not always conducive to a productive day. I started off by emptying the dishwasher and putting away dishes from yesterday. I was feeding kids breakfast in the midst of that. Then I started catching up on some laundry when I noticed a box of clothes on the laundry room floor that I had gotten out of the basement that needed sorting. I took the box to one of the kids' bedrooms for sorting and remembered that I wanted to clean bathrooms that morning too. I went to the bathroom in our bedroom and sprayed down the toilet (inside and out) with Clorox Cleanup to let it sit for awhile. I left the other bathroom for later in case the kids had to use it. I then went back to work in the kids' room to get that box of clothing sorted. I started to sort it when I realized that their drawers were too full to hold the new clothes. So I decided that I needed to clean out the drawers of things that were getting too small and put those things in another box to go downstairs. So I started to do that when I found some clothing in their closet in bags that also needed sorting. So I started to do that when I found some clothes that needed ironed and hung up in the closet. The children had been in and out of the various rooms I was in and out of to ask for a drink or to tell me a story, etc. the whole time, but it was then that I realized that I heard some bathroom cabinet doors opening and shutting. I figured it was one of the older kids getting a towel or some toilet paper or something, and I ignored it for about 2 minutes. Then I realized it was still going on, and I went to the main bathroom. There was nobody in it. I went to our bathroom and, to my horror, found Violet "helping" mom.

As background, my husband had one of those Clorox toilet wands when we got married. It's the type that you buy the disposable pads for the end of it, and then you just throw that pad away when you're done cleaning. I don't know for sure why he had one of those, as I'm almost certain that he has never cleaned a toilet. I guess maybe he bought it for his mom so she didn't have to bring her own when she came to clean his and Austin's bachelor pad. Either that, or he's a toilet cleaning whiz, and he's just been holding out on me all this time.

I don't know if Violet has watched me clean toilets but maybe once or twice. I usually try to save that job for when the little ones are either in the bath tub, high chair, or asleep, because I don't want them to get tempted to be "helpful". Apparently, she has absorbed what the routine is, because yesterday, as I walked into the bathroom, I found the box of extra Clorox pads open on the floor. I found the Clorox wand back under the cabinet where it usually is but soaking wet. The worst part was that, as she had evidently not been able figure out how to get the wand and pads together, she had taken the next best thing, a small, handheld scrub brush, from under the cabinet to clean the bathroom. She had given the toilet - inside and out - a through scrubbing, as well as everything around it - the magazine basket, walls, floor, rug, and - to my dismay - herself. As I arrived, she was brushing her hair with the scrub brush she had used for the toilet. She had toilet water (and Clorox Cleanup) running off her head in all directions and onto the new outfit I had just put on her. She had it running off her forehead and into her eyes and mouth. She met me with a huge, helpful smile, and some baby jibber jabber. I wish that my response had been able to match her glee. I believe it went something like, "Violet! Grooooooossss!!! GRRRRRR....."

All my germophobic mind could picture is germs running all over her and everything else and bleach burning her baby skin. I proceeded to strip her down and throw her in the shower and clean her thoroughly with baby soap. She was quite pleased at her helpfulness. I wrapped her in a towel and sent her out of the bathroom so that I could finish the clean up she had started.

Levi and Violet share a bedroom right now, and they have a small set of plastic drawers next to their dresser in which I store baby toiletries and items: nail clippers, lotions, creams, hair brushes, and hair pretties. On top of those drawers is a porcelain statue of Jesus with children around him that my grandma bought them at her favorite store - Everything's A Dollar. When I put them down for bed a few nights ago, he was apparently not very sleepy. When I went in their room the next morning, there was a white haze and a delightful smell. I immediately started coughing though as I sucked the white powder in through my nostrils and realized it was baby powder. The plastic drawers were open, and two bottles of baby powder were laying on their side on the floor of their room. His pillow and blanket were moved down next to Violet's pack-n-play, and when I lifted his pillow there was a mound of baby powder underneath. This was merely the tip of the iceberg. His bedding had been completely coated in the powder. Their carpeting was full of it. The plastic drawers and dresser had been coated with it, and the Jesus statue looked like it had been sitting out during a 3 inch baby powder storm. I got out the vacuum and spent quite awhile trying to get it all sucked up and into the bag. When I finished, a white haze permeated the whole first floor, and the vacuum bag was full of white powder.

My older daughters were easy toddlers. No toilets, no tantrums, no trouble... no writing on walls, no coloring in books, no tearing out pages... no eating non food items, no ripping out pet fur, no getting out of bed at bedtime. Before I had these last two children, I wasn't sure why people needed to put childproof locks on cabinets, drawers, and toilet lids. I didn't understand lids on garbage cans or those plastic doorknob covers. I didn't know why people said, "When they're quiet, that's when you have to worry about what they're doing." I have been schooled. I joke around about earning my "Boy Badge" when I got Austin and Levi. But I have also earned my "Busy Child Badge"... twice over. I'm fairly certain that God knew I needed to have a wider perspective of child-rearing. So that's what consoles me when I'm pulling plates and forks out of the trash, vacuuming baby powder, and mopping up toilet water. I'm getting perspective, and Violet's learning how to give herself blonde highlights. Sometimes I wish the easy ones had come second.

Well, I'm off to help clean up a hamster cage turned upside down on the floor. "Rodent Care Badge", here I come.