Situation (Read at your own risk if you have a delicate constitution)

It is 7:45pm the kids are in bed and you are a few dishes away from a clean kitchen and a cozy spot on the couch with the Desperate Housewives, when all of the sudden your stomach gurgles. You know the one I am talking about. The one that says 'you had better get the the bathroom ASAP'. But you are like me, and you know that if you leave this chore unfinished, you won't came back to it. And what would the flylady say? So you wash and dry that last pot with a speed you didn't know you possessed and put it away. You squeeze your cheeks as you spray out the sink, empty the food traps of their noodles, and shine that sink with some windex. We have done the flylady proud. Now as you dash for the bathroom your very recently potty trained son comes around the corner with his underwear around his ankles. "I have to poop" he says. Well crap...you know this isn't going to go quickly, especially because he is supposed to be in bed and he will do anything to be out of his room, even if it is sitting on the pot for 15 minutes. But you know he hasn't pooped yet today, so you can't make him wait otherwise, not only will you have tummy trouble, but you'll be cleaning up his BM off the bathroom floor. So...what do you do??? Tell me....WHAT DO YOU DO?

Revalations

                                    before                                    

after

I shined my sink today ( http://flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Shine.asp ) not realizing the snow ball effect that would occur. Spending all that time shining my sink made me not want to dirty it with dishes, and to dry it out after I use the water so it wont get water spots, and so on. So my kitchen, while not necessarily clean, does look a lot better. As a temporarily single mother of two small children my living room is always a mess. I don't bother to clean it during the day because the kids will just pull the toys out again and I will be back at square one. So my night time routine has been, put the kids in bed. Tidy the living room, relax for a bit and go to bed. The flaws with this routine were that I could never vacuum, because the girl would already be asleep by the time I finished tidying, and I can't put any of her toys away because lord help the person who should try to sneak into her room while she is sleeping cuz she will wake up PISSED no matter how quiet you are. So leaving her stuff in a pile in the living room with the intent of putting them away in the morning never works, because the boy gets up in the morning and immediately spreads it all out. Well tonight I had a thought. Everything on the floor is the kids mess. . . .let the kids clean it up. So a half an hour before bed I said okay I want you to take all of your toys into your bedrooms. Before the kids went to bed the living room was clean and the floor had been vacuumed. :D. There is a snag in this plan however. My daughter is only 2 and doesn't quite get it and most of the toys were hers so I was still doing most of the work. She will get it though, and I am sure it won't be all her mess every night. So hear I sit with a sparkly sink and a clean living room quite content with the world. Now it's time for some grown-up tv (aka. Not Nick Jr.) and then bed.

Dodaaaa

I was always thought that all of the products that were generated to make more money off of the movies and television characters that children love were ridiculous. I don't remember there being things like that when I was a kid. Maybe I have a faulty memory, there probably was stuff and I just don't remember but I don't think it could have been like it is today. You can't walk into any store without being slapped in the face with the Disney Princess or Lightning McQueen. I always looked at these products and thought, what greedy people. they can't just be happy with the bazillion dollars they make off the movie?!?!?!? I would see the Cinderella shoes or cups or blankets, even candy and just be able to visualize the children screaming and crying for these products. What a horrible thing to do to parents. Isn't it hard enough taking a kid into a toy store without the screams for Blues clues or Diego or Yo Gabba Gabba. What happened to barbie and my little pony and cabbage patch kids? ( I know all girl stuff, well I am a girl and that is what I remember) It isn't even just toy stores anymore. There is a Disney princess flashlight at the hardware store and keys with mickey mouse on them. Seriously people STOP THE INSANITY. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I have been sucked in.

My daughter is MAD crazy in love with Dora, or Doda as she says it. She comes running from the other room when it comes on. It always makes her happy, and it would keep her busy and out of my hair for a while when I try to empty the dishwasher and she wanted to "help". All was good in the beginning. It was just the show, and then a doll (which happens to be just about as big as her and her best friend to boot) but now every time we go out if there is a Dora anything I have to hope she doesn't see it. Otherwise the "Doda DOOODAAAAA" starts This Christmas was 80% Dora and the gift certificates were used to purchase Kai-Lan toys. Her other favorite girl (She has a little Kai-Lan doll and it is really kind of funny to see her running around with GIANT Dora and tiny Kai-Lan) I can't help it. I know I am just feeding the madness but it makes her so happy, so genuinely happy. And as I sit here thinking about it I am realizing that that genuine happiness that she gets from holding playing with wearing and sleeping on her favorite characters is fleeting. That something so simple could make her so happy is almost something to envy. Think about the last time you felt that rush of pure joy, and excitement. What did it take to make you feel that way? And how long had it been since the last time you felt that? As we get older I think it gets harder to get that excited about something. Maybe we should indulge our children while it is so easy to do so. (but seriously. . . .flashlights?)

Yeah, it's pink. . .So what

My son has a new found love of video games. Fear not, he isn't playing call of duty or resident evil, but lately he has been playing the games on nickjr.com. They are educational and keep him busy while I do things like clean, and cling to sanity. So for Christmas we got him a Smart Cycle. It was really cool and he loved it. Any one who knows my son knows he has an obsession with cars, and the smart cycle games were like he was racing a car. . .so. . he was in seventh heaven on Christmas morning playing his game. The next day we went to play it and nothin'. It was dead. So we exchanged it hoping very much that the one we bought was a dud. Alas, the second cycle died today. So we had a change of plan. We went back to the store today and returned it and chose a Leap Frog Leapster 2 instead. (and the games were buy one get one free. Cha ching) There are two color choices, green or pink, and my boy chose pink. That's cool with me. There are probably some people out there who would say "why would you let your son get a pink toy" Well . . . because it is just a color, and he happens to like it. I will not raise my kids telling them that dollies are for girls and cars are for boys. No one would bat an eyelash at a girl with a green game, why should it be any different for boys?

I don't wanna

I don't wanna mop the floor because my son decided to get into the syrup and honey this morning. I don't wanna repeat these things a hundred time a day; get up to the table and eat your lunch, if your not going potty get out of the bathroom, don't do that to the cats they don't like it, leave the dog alone ect. I don't wanna fight with my four year old at nap time, I don't wanna change that poopy diaper or wipe that poopy butt. But I am a mom and that's my job so I guess I will do all of these things and remember that there is good too. It's hard sometimes, especially when Cory is under way and I am doing it all by myself. But this is my life and I love it.