My little helpers

JD: "Mom, are there any dishes left?"

Me: "No, Matt finished them."

JD: "But I want to do dishes."

Me: "Don't worry. We have a lot of dishes here. There will be more to wash soon."

JD: "But I want to do it today."

Me: "OK. After dinner, you can wash the dishes."

JD: "OK."

I just had to write that down for ammunition encouragement later in life when I have to force beg my children to do the dishes.

Today was a big catch up day on housework. I am so challenged when it comes to maintaining a home. Cleaning is one thing and while I don't like it, I do get it done from time to time. But the every day maintenance is so hard for me. I know and I know that if I get those dishes washed immediately after meals/snacks (FIVE times a day!) that all will go better. As soon as I let one slide, there is suddenly a mountain of dishes piled by the sink. Now there is the fact that small children seem to require attention at the most inopportune times so sometimes there are legitimate reasons for putting off those dishes, but for the most part, it is pure laziness for me. I even have a dishwasher so who am I to complain!

Today was one of those days where just looking at the massive pile made me want to close the kitchen door and go curl back up in bed. It was just too overwhelming that I didn't know where to start. Thankfully, my boys came to my rescue and helped make it fun too.

We discovered just a few weeks ago that the boys not only love to do the dishes, they fight over who gets to do them. It isn't something I let them do every day so I suppose they feel like it is a special treat. I only have them do all the plastic stuff, like the gazillions of kiddy cups, and I know they mostly like to just splash around in the water, but they actually do a good job with all the playing.

Today to distract JD while Matt did the dishes, I had him tell me stories while I cleaned the stovetop. He was very funny telling stories about a guy named "I Don't Know". Then we cleaned out the refrigerator (a task that has needed to be done for quite some time!). He had so much fun. I even had fun. And Matt soon joined us. They were so eager that they cleaned the stove door and the windows in the dining room. I think I need to put them on the payroll!