Messes

Having a child has taught me a lot. One of the big things is that I will not have a clean house for many years. That no matter how hard I try or how much I pick up there is another mess waiting for me around the corner. Lately my almost 20 month old son has been great at spilling everything that he puts his hands on. I can not begin to count the crushed goldfish crackers and cheerios that I have swept up and the drinks that I have cleaned up this week alone. Yesterday was not an exception. The two main messes made were right after each other and while I was cooking dinner. So it was even more stressful than normal. I saw out of the corner of my eye that he had picked up a small can and was shaking it. When I realized what it was it was to late. It was his pet Beta Fish's food. This food is the size of poppy seeds and he had taken the cap off and turned it upside down and it was everywhere. I cleaned it up but, I am sure that years from now I will still find beta fish food on my kitchen floor. Then not 2 minutes later, he comes into the kitchen carrying the bag out of a box of Chex cereal. Full of Chex. I told him to be very careful and not to spill them. As soon as the words left my mouth, I turned to see him dumping the bag over and all of the Chex now on my kitchen floor. He jumps up and runs through them and then jumps in them. Crushing them into my once beautiful hardwood floor. I wonder why I even bother to try to clean my house. I wonder why we bothered refinishing the hardwood floors in this old house. Then I remembered that when we bought this house we wanted to have kids here but we had no idea, just like other people without kids, how much kids demolish a house. Not that I would trade my son for the world. But I would trade my messy house for a clean one.