Laundry Helpers

Today was a day to accomplish some laundry - so WE did. I had planned to get down earlier than normal for breakfast, but that didn't happen. Anyway, Nicole likes to help, so I set her about the job of putting the dirty towels in the washer. Done. She was so proud of herself. After breakfast I go them both busy putting towels in the dryer. Way too much fun! They had lots of laughs doing this. Jacob stood on a chair and pitched the wet towels out of the washer to Nicole, who then put them in the dryer. As you can imagine towels were landing everywhere. On the floor, on the dryer top, on Nicole's head, but boy were they enjoying it. You see, for me, this is difficult to accept. Much too often I am all business and "get the job done." It is against my natural inclinations to allow this kind of frolicking with wet laundry while there's a job to be done. I squelched this desire to fuss and reorganize their efforts. Along the way, I learned that they had managed to have bunches of fun together (without arguing, I might add) and they got the job done! What a concept! Well, I am feeling good about this. So I think up the next job to be done - sorting laundry! I am beginning to like not doing these things myself. :) I sent the two of them upstairs to sort the dirty clothes into kids vs. parents with permission to toss all the kids' laundry over the upstairs ledge and to the bottom floor. Oh, the excitement! The did a fantastic job. All I had to do was walk between the laundry room and the bottom of the stairs (not too far) to collect and then spray the laundry. Andrew, who was finishing breakfast, was quite amused by the falling laundry, especially when it hit Mommy on the head. What fun - even for me! The kids were eager to finish loading the washer and start it all up! I think I like this!

Lesson learned today: Loosen up mom! And let them do the laundry!