My Perfect Afternoon

I had the most amazing day with Collin. We didn't do anything special. We never left the house (with the exception of Hawaii & China). We never even made it out the front door today. In fact, I spent the afternoon cleaning our bedrooms & organizing Collin's closet & dresser.  Collin helped, of course. His dusting skills are proving to cut my time in half. Fourteen months is old enough to start implementing chores, right?

Normally, when I clean Collin gets in the way & creates a larger mess. I always huff & puff my way through my daily tasks & at the end of it all I'm left feeling guilty for always making him think he is in the way. I have a crazy Type A personality & it hasn't been working well for Collin...& that means it doesn't work well for me. So it was time for a change.

Today, I took lots of breaks to play with him. I spent most of my time on the floor in his bedroom sorting through old clothes & dusting the bottom of his crib...which I may or may not have been forgetting to clean for some months now. I chose not to stress when he destroyed his hangers for the third time after I finished hanging them back up. I chose to remind myself instead that they are just plastic hangers. That my son is fourteen months old. That he won't always want to destroy his hanger closet & look at me proudly when he has knocked them all down. That he won't always run to me for a hug after receiving my approving smile. Why have I been so uptight this whole time? I finished what I set out to that day. It took me longer, but Collin was happier & I was happier. We played & laughed & giggled. Never. Ever. Again. Will I ever. Not include Collin in my daily chores.



{  My Dad made this for Collin this past summer. It is my favorite toy to watch him play with.  }



{  ...today we surfed the beaches of Hawaii.  }



{  ...& sailed the seas to China.  }