Of Clutter and Bribery

Have you ever noticed that clutter is like a Tribble? You clutter up one surface, and it multiplies behind your back to cover surfaces all over your house. It's like you mentally give yourself and other family members subconscious permission to just leave crap lying everywhere when you just let one surface get out of control.

Take my dining table, for example. I put down a newspaper on it the other day (yes, it was the other day and not sometime last week!), and now, a scant few days later, here's a list of what's on it:

1. wicker basket used to serve food
2. DD's "Shopping" book and cardboard cut-outs from the book
3. DD's foam alphabet stickers (in the container, not stuck to the tablecloth)
4. an empty and clean cake plate and cover
5. empty IKEA wood picture frames
6. 12 framed flower pictures for hanging in the kitchen
7. a SECOND wicker basket used to serve food
8. trivet
9. salt & pepper shakers
10. FOUR newspapers
11. coupons
12. assorted bills & mail items
13. the digital camera
14. empty red plastic cup
15. water bottle
16. shopping list pad and pen
17. DD's NWF "Animal Baby" magazine from June (of course)
18. my Bible study binder
19. my laptop
20. Gerber puffs for DS, and the tray from his highchair

You'd have all that on your dining room table, wouldn't you? Of course you would...and so would any other reasonable person in America. That's my Delusion of the Day.

On a completely unrelated note, we have discovered that yes, bribery does work with potty training. DD had been completely refusing to do pooping on the potty, and while she was doing okay with peeing on the potty we were still having a bit too many accidents for my liking. So, I told her on Monday that if she went pee-pee AND poo-poo in the potty ALL WEEK, she could go to Barnes & Noble on Friday and pick out a brand new book! Well, that has done the trick like nothing else! I have also been a bit more vigilant about enforcing potty time, and she has done really, really well. I am not going to count my chickens before they hatch, but I would be oh-so-happy to buy a children's book on Friday.

And on the "Not as Easy as It Looks" front, DH got up with both kiddos this morning in a characteristic act of kindness so that I could sleep in, after a very disturbed night of sleep for us all. DD & DS were quite grumpy and woke several times last night, so I was ecstatic to sleep on, even if my dream involved an annoying return to graduate school and a reminder of how glad I am to be done with that phase of my life. Anyway, I was woken up precisely an hour later by DH storming in, DS in his arms, with an emphatic proclamation of, "I'm sorry but you're just going to have to get up now. I can't do this any more."

Apparently my DD had been diligently practicing using her potty, including using the toilet paper which is sitting on the table next to her potty (in the living room, natch). And DS had rolled/crawled over to check out this potty thing (unsurprisingly, he loves exploring now that he's mobile). So DH moved him, and went about doing something else (not quite clear on this bit), but he came back and found DS...eating bits of pee-soaked toilet paper. (Ewwww!) Yes, my son had crawled over to the potty, opened the lid, and helped himself to the toilet paper. DH was nearly apoplectic with a grinning DS in his arms.

Ahem. This would be why I empty her potty IMMEDIATELY after use. You see, I may appear to be ensconced in email, message boards, and blogs here in the mornings, but I really am paying attention to what my kiddos are getting into (most of the time). It's not as easy as it looks. I smothered my laughter and got up, much to my children's delight. What could be better than TWO tired parents to entertain/annoy? At least DH gets to go to the office 4 days a week. *LOL*