The Knauss House

This morning has been one of the most chaotic mornings I've ever had. One of my friends and I do a babysitting swap where I watch her son on Mondays and she watches Grey on Thursdays. Well, her son is transitioning into a "big boy" bed and has not slept well the past several days, in fact, he's been up since 3:20 this morning. Then there is Grey who is teething - finally - at 19 months. So, both boys are in a rare mood today. Today has been chaos. Did I already say that??? Anyway, more accomplished mothers may have already figured out what I just now realized, but I'll get back to that parenting tip in a bit. First off, let me explain one thing about myself. I'm kinda anal retentive. All right, probably more than kinda, but I like to think of it as a cute, endearing, idiocracy but, back to the point. I don't much care for a mess. So, as the boys go around and play, I usually go around behind them and pick up. But today, they have caused more than your regular mess. First off, lets start with the curtains. I have some curtains hung in our living room by a spring rod, to avoid more nasty holes in my wall. Today the boys decided it would be fun to wind themselves up in them... While I'm of course cleaning up breakfast. So, by the time I get both boys out of the curtains, it's too late and they have pulled the curtains down. Then, me being me, I had to get the curtains back up. As I'm putting up the curtains, I hear a quiet giggling - never a good sign. I look around and notice that almost all of the lower half of my Christmas tree ornaments are on the floor and they are pulling off more as fast as they can. So, I get the curtain done in an instant and start herding them from the Christmas tree and I start putting the ornaments back on. As I am doing this I hear a door knob turn... Another bad sign. I leave the ornaments and run into the bathroom to find Grey sitting on the toilet seat with his feet dangling in the toilet kicking water everywhere. UGH!!! So, I get Grey out of the toilet, change his clothes, and go back to the ornaments. And it gets quiet. Really, Really quiet. I stop putting the ornaments back on and run into Greys room, where the boys have opened up Greys dresser and have thrown Grey's clothes all over the room. So, by now I'm done with the ornaments and start in on the clothes. I've closed the door and boxed the boys in with me, and feeling smug with myself for finally realizing this little tidbit. Of course, in the mean time, they take apart the bookshelf and the toy box! Now it's time for lunch and (did I mention all this happened before lunch???) nap time is just around the corner. Blessed naptime. The greatest invention since... Well, since ever. So, after the boys eat (with out too many issues) I put them down for a nap. And as I was sitting down to quietly eat my lunch I had an epiphany. I understand proactive parenting, or at least the theory behind it. But I've got to get over the anal-ness that is me and leave the mess and follow the boys! So, there it is... My parenting tip - LEAVE THE MESS... FOLLOW THE BOYS. If this has helped you in any way, I hope so. Otherwise my morning was all for naught. Now, I've got to go have my 2pm Dr Pepper early, because it's just one of those days!