Thank Goodness for Little Helpers

I was determined to get out of bed and be productive this morning. Normally I spend an hour eating breakfast, drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, and talking with my boys (it's a hard life, I know), but today I was all business - although I did take five minutes to talk with the boys while I ate. I was showered, dressed, fed, had all three kids dressed and fed, started the laundry, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned all three bathrooms, and put away all the folded laundry all before 9am.

At that point I wasn't sure what I should do with myself, so I started cleaning out and packing up the living rooms. The funny thing about cleaning is how it attracts children. It's like they know someone is changing something and they are going to do their darndest to make the whole process as chaotic as possible. M decided he needed to be in charge of labeling boxes. (I was terrified of handing over the black marker - which of my possessions were soon to be colored with permanent black marker?) I wish I had taken a picture of it, but the boxes with my film cameras in it are now labeled >aMrA, which I am sure will be very helpful for the moving men. E helped by taking every toy I had put away, back out, and lining them all up in a very straight line. He also refused to let me put the train table away even though he hasn't played with it in months. T has his own neophyte way of helping - at a different chore: he loves to pull up on the dishwasher and take all the dirty dishes back out and place them on the floor. Now if I could just get him to lick them all, I could feed the baby and get the dishes clean with minimal effort on my part. But, bless them all, I am not going to criticize their efforts - I will consider myself a stunning succes if I can raise boys that know how to clean a house, cook a meal, and do laundry. Not to mention - in this house, I need all the help I can get.