I'm a clutter bug

I was thinking yesterday that I am going to have to delete my blog when Lily learns to read. I am not very nice to her on my blog am I? I do spend quite a bit of time complaining about the difficulties of raising her, and not a lot of time talking about how amazing she is. Most people who know Lily in real life take all my complaining with a grain of salt. They roll their eyes at me because Lily is truly a delightful little girl. When we are out and about people always stop to talk to her and she can bring a smile to the grumpiest person's face. She is just so happy and her personality is quite infectious. I thought I would tell a nice Lily story for a change, to help with perspective.

Many of my friends will complain that their husbands leave their socks and underwear lying in piles all over the house. That their husbands can sit down on the couch next to a pile of laundry in need of being folded and turn on the TV. That their husbands don't even see the clutter and disarray that they leave in their wake. In truth, those would also be great descriptions of me. I am not at all good at taking care of clutter. I am clean, my house is clean, the dishes are clean, the floors are clean, the toilets are clean, but clutter-what is the point?

On a typical day Jeff will come home from work and every surface of the house will be covered in toys. The coffee table will be strewn with half done puzzles. The carpets with Lincoln logs in one corner, dueplo blocks in another, and those tiny little Lego's that hurt like hell to step on will be right in the middle of the floor. Our bedroom floor and bed will be covered in babies, blankets and stuffed animals. And Lily and I will be reading a pile of books on the couch totally oblivious of the chaos around us. I have not been at all successful at teaching her how to put away one toy before getting out the next toy.

This all really upsets Jeff. He should have an afternoon tea with my girl friends and listen to how their husbands are so disrespectful as to leave their underwear in the middle of the bedroom, he could really sympathies with my friends. Jeff you see does not like clutter at all. He has tried everything over the course of our marriage to convince me to pick up more. And, well it really hasn't worked. Every fight we have ever had has been about this subject. Mostly he has gotten over it. But, lately for some strange reason I have been making an effort to pick up the house before he gets home from work. How domestic of me.

I know, you are thinking where is Lily in this story, it is coming... About an hour before Jeff gets home Lily and I start to pick up the house. We work together and put away all her toys, her babies, her books, etc. We organize them all neatly on her shelves and in her closet and we run the vacuum. Sometimes we sweep and mop the floors, we make the beds, run the dust cloth over the coffee table and then start dinner. Then Daddy comes home to a freshly clean house, no clutter at all, the smells of something cooking and we rush to the door to say hello. Best wife ever!

After a week or so, this got kinda old for me, old habits and all. We were busy with so many activities during the day, running here and running there, driving, driving everywhere (too much Dr. Seuss?). Instead of jumping up to clean the house an hour before Jeff comes home, I decided to write on my blog or read other blogs. To pop a movie in for Lily and to relax for a bit.

Here is the part about Lily. . .

Somehow Lily decided she like the whole cleaning up the house bit, and she has been cleaning up without me. She picks up and puts away all her toys, organizes her room. She even will pick up my socks off the floor and put them in the hamper. She will make the beds and wipe down the coffee table. It is hilarious. I couldn't find my phone, or my book and Lily knew exactly where she had put them. We lost the remote for the TV and Lily knew right where that was too. She loves to look around the house and see it all picked up and neat. She must have gotten that from her dad??? Neat and tidy, that is my Lily no more toys scattered around the house. Jeff is so happy. Daddy's little girl.