More messiness

I tried an experiment last week and did not touch a single thing in Emily's room for 4 days.  Here is a video of what happened:

Emily has obviously not inherited the Lorenzen neat freak gene.  There may be hope, though.  I was pretty messy when I was younger, too.  Emily also very willingly helped hang up clothes on hangers and did a great job while I picked up the rest of the floor yesterday.

But then she wasn't sleepy when we put her to bed last night.  We had a babysitter, so she was allowed to entertain herself until she was tired.  That's usually what she does anyway.  The only rule is that she has to stay upstairs and no playing in the bathroom.  The organized toy closet is upstairs, and she helps herself.  By the time she fell asleep all the Cooties were put together and all the Memory cards were lined up on her bedroom floor along with all her stuffed animals.  And every single Berenstain Bear book was in bed with her.  Thankfully, the Barrel of Monkeys and Lite Brite pegs were still in their respective containers.  I used to try to keep her books categorized on the shelves and toys sorted in bins.  Now I'd just be happy being able to walk across the floor barefoot without fear of injury!

It's not that Emily doesn't like/want to clean.  We usually fight over the Swiffer duster when I actually do get around to dusting.  She hauls it out on her own more often than I do.  She also hauls the broom out of the closet and tries to sweep the kitchen floor like Daddy.  Just now I went upstairs to investigate the eerie silence (always a red flag for me).  Behind a closed bathroom door Emily was "cleaning the potty".  She had made a little mess, and after watching me clean the bathroom last night during bath time with sanitary wipes, she decided to do the same.  The bathroom had an overpowering lemon scent and half the container of wipes was strung out across the floor.  Sigh. (I seem to *sigh* a lot in my blog posts lately.)  Some day I'm going to try to figure out how to harness that energy and enthusiasm.  For now, I could really use a nap. ;o)