Toddler tornadoes

I like a clean house. 

There is something relaxing about sitting down after my toddler tornado has gone to bed and seeing everything in its place. 

Many of you are going to roll your eyes at me and dismiss me as a crazy woman, but I don’t care. Memes like the ones below aren’t hard to find and seem to be the popular opinion. While they are 100 per cent true and I laugh at how true each one really is, I also know keeping a somewhat tidy home is a possibility for me as well.

Having a toddler tornado is messy but if you can ignore the mess until he’s sleeping, a toddler tornado can also be a ton of fun. In the photos below I had just finished my daily workout and my tornado had gotten into a variety of things while I was kicking my butt and working up a sweat. The first photo was markers, that ended up on my face and shoes and the second photo was play-dough, small bits of it I am still finding around the house. 

What’s fun about these situations is watching my little tornado discover things and be creative through mess. I have learned that creativity and learning isn’t something you can box up and keep all neat and tidy, which means messes happen. 

But messes can also be tidied, opening the door to more options for creative play. I have noticed that when the tornado’s toys have been put away and organized he has an easier time choosing something new than when they are strewn all over the house. Maybe it’s just because he’s looking forward to making a huge mess again, but I like to think it’s because he’s been given a clean slate.

So for most of the day my house does look like a tornado hit it. In addition to the toys and lately, blankets, all over the house, the dishes are rarely done until after supper and my bathroom is not cleaned as frequently as it probably should be (Don’t worry guests, it’s always cleaned right before you come!).

But after my toddler tornado goes to bed and my chubby infant (16 lbs at 2 months – chubby may be an understaitment) is happy enough to be put down, I start tidying. Sometimes it’s overwhelming because the tornado has hit every room in the house but once I get started in never takes more than 20 minutes to tidy things and put things back in their places. 

I will not feel guilty for liking a clean home. There’s already so much moms start feeling guilty about and this will not be one of those things for me. So if you, like me, enjoy the serenity of a tidy home – go ahead, take some time to make cleaning a priority. Do what makes you feel sane. For me, it’s toys in their baskets and a hot coffee in my hand. 

I probably should have listened to my mother more

Today I worked for a few hours in the afternoon and then went home to start preparing a bumbleberry pie, without strawberries as I would prefer for my dear boyfriend to live to see another day. Anyways, I made the crust at my place and then packed everything up to go to Cody’s because we were having Sunday Soup for dinner (I know, I know Sunday Soup on Saturday doesn’t make sense, but trust me, it works), and I needed to add barley and noodles to the soup so they would cook before Cody had to go to worship practice.

After the soup was on the stove to re-heat with noodles and barley added, I got to work preparing this pie. I had originally thought I would make it because Cody and I thought we’d visit our pastor tonight. His wife has been in Mexico the last few weeks and every time we bump into him he tells us how empty his fridge is. I figured a pie would be a great thing to bring along.

I finished the pie and cleaned up the counter all before Cody noticed exactly how much flour was all over his kitchen. I thought I had been doing a good job of cleaning up after myself. The counters were sparkling, the dishes were done and put away and the soup still simmering on the stove. Apparently I forgot about all the kitchen cabinets I touched and drawers I opened with floured hands…Cody’s kitchen cupboards are dark, so it didn’t take long for him to figure out exactly where I had been in his kitchen.

After dinner and once the pie was complete Cody left for worship practice. As he was leaving he said “I’ll see you when I get back. Make yourself at home. (pause) Wait, don’t. You make a mess.”

My mom always told me that whomever I chose to date and possibly spend my life with would pick up on my messy ways. I never thought I was that messy (unless you entered my teenage  room…that was very messy), but now that I’ve met Cody, I can see I’m going to have to start remembering all those meticulous house-cleaning lessons mom gave, since the above-average cleaning lessons aren’t quite doing the trick.

P.S. Pastor Rob, if you’re reading this and wondering why you didn’t get any pie, it’s because we couldn’t get a hold of you – so we fed it to the worship team.