Faster

The Faster

Laundry at my house has become easier lately, due to one thing - the faster. At first glance, the faster appears to be a miniature plastic ironing board, but when you turn it over, it can slide across the carpet at lightning quick speeds and then it becomes a different object completely.

Katelin loves putting things away with the faster. At first she helped pick up clutter from the floor, which often meant using the faster was actually slower than just putting things away, but when it comes to laundry, it is pretty efficient. Katelin loves to pile towels or socks or underwear on the faster and swoosh it to where it belongs. Sometimes Seth follows closely behind with his "faster", the laundry basket. I don't know that including the kids in doing the laundry is actually FASTER, but doing it with them is so much more fun.

I find I am happier in general when I can find ways to do things with my kids, rather than just doing things for my kids (usually while they make a huge mess somewhere else). Today we ate lunch together. Most days we do sit down together, but often I prep the food, put kids up to the table, gulp my food down and start cleaning up without even a breath. Today I sat down and talked with my kids. We told knock knock jokes.

"Knock, knock," I ask.

"Who's there?"

"Boo."

"Boo hoo."

"Why are you crying?" Seth laughs too loud. Katelin chuckles.

"Knock knock." I try again.

"Who's there?"

"Ants."

"Ants who?"

"Ants in your pants." Both kids erupt into giggles. The ants in your pants bit always gets them going.

Katelin tries. "Knock knock."

"Who's there?" I answer.

"Ants."

"Ants who?"

"Ants in your poopy pants."

Later we tried all of our names and nicknames and uncles' names and grandparents' names in this song....

"Kellie, kellie, bo-belly, banana fana fo felly, me mi mo melly. Kellie."

Needless to say, lunch went a little longer than usual, but afterwards the kids helped (a little) with clearing the table and we moved smoothly to quiet time.

Caring for my kids is a lot of effort, but most of the time, when I actually get down on their level and be with them, I find joy in the effort.