We tend to fall behind on household stuff on the weekends. Not always, but its not uncommon. Sometimes we spend Saturday tidying the place up, doing laundry, etc., but other Saturdays, we run errands. Now that we’re finally not as diseased as before, we were really happy to take the kids out and show them somewhere different than the walls of their own house. So needless to say, this weekend, housework got pushed back. Which is more than fine with me.
I had a really restful sleep and woke up on my own accord. I had a touch of a headache but Tylenol helped quicker than it was last week, so that was great. I knew there was a good amount of housework to get done, and I felt well enough to dive in.
As the kids were eating breakfast, I started to unpack the dishwasher. I always lay out the bottles on the island, because Dekker and Laela love assembling them. As I was dumping the pieces out onto a towel for them, Dekker asked if he could help with dishes. I told him that I was leaving out some bottles for him to do after breakfast. He agreed, but seemed a bit uncertain. I asked if he wanted to do more, and he answered with “of course I do!” I’ve been thinking about kids and chores and capabilities recently, and this is one I’ve been thinking I could ask for help with more often. So I said I’d have some jobs for him after breakfast, and he was very happy, and finished his breakfast off very quickly. He was ready. I know my kids won’t forever be chomping at the bit to have jobs around the house, so I’m going to take advantage of the times that they are to build some great habits and routines!
The last load of dishes that had run through the dishwasher had been mostly kids dishes. So I decided to leave almost the whole dishwasher for Dekker and I started scrubbing some of the stuck on stuff off of the next load of dishes. Deks did his bottles on the island and then came over to the dishwasher. I joined him and started to tell him what I thought he could do. He held up his hand at me and said “I’ve got this, mommy.” So I left him to it, and he unpacked and put away the entire dishwasher of kids dishes. I thanked him profusely and told him that he had ben so nice to offer to help me, but he wasn’t happy. “I know there is lots left to do…” he trailed off. I asked if he wanted to keep helping, and he did! I’m in no position to turn down willing help, so I trusted Dekker to help load in the glasses and ceramic dishes. I’d put in one plate and put the rest where he could reach them, and he’s stack them all up in the right place. Same with the glasses. He filled the whole top of the dishwasher on his own, and honestly, I didn’t even have to go back and sneakily move things around. He did awesome!!!
After the dishes, I headed downstairs to sort the laundry. Brady had washed a load of laundry this weekend so he had shorted everything already! I sorted the last day or two worth of what had come down the laundry chute, and then went to put in a load. Dekker stood nearby, hands on his hips, still in work mode.
When we came back upstairs, Solly was getting fussy in his jumperoo, and I said I was going to go put him down for a nap. As I took him out of his toy, He spat up a little bit. “I’m on it!” Dekker said, grabbed a wipe, and headed over to clean up Sollys little barf pile. All. On. His. Own.
Once Solly was down, I came back to the living room and Dekker was standing patiently waiting for me, with a book in hand. He asked if I would read to him, and I said of course I would. He came and sat on my lap and we read a nice long book together. It was awesome. A VERY good morning for him, and for us.
I sure love you, Dekker Thomas! Thank you for being SUCH a willing helper, and for not waiting to be asked. Its sometimes hard for mommy to know how much help to ask for, because I want you to play and have fun. Its so nice when you offer. I love hanging out with you. You’re SO special to me.