Raising Toddlers: A Tired Mom’s Perspective on an Ordinary Treasures Sweep

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing,— Phyllis Diller

The ‘Lived In’ Feel

I come home to an empty house after having some “me time” and find it really exudes that “lived in” feel. You know that vibe: dirty dishes in the sink, toys all over the living room, papers, books, and crayons littering the den.

As I go through and pull everything into a laundry basket, I find treasures. I find six little rolled up pieces of orange construction paper on the arm of a chair. What are they? I know not. Without doubt, they hold meaning in the creative mind that fashioned them.

So Many Toddler Treasures

I find a chutes and ladders playing board—one half here, the other over there, the little cardboard people scattered, the box missing one edge, the spinner missing the part that spins. (I find that later.) I find a Swiffer sweeper behind my arm chair because someone was using it as a cane yesterday and that someone also loves to play Rainbow kitty (also Sparkle kitty and Ice kitty), and that kitty, often ‘injured,’ likes to hide behind the arm chair; I find a little piece of twine tied to the knob on the drawer of the side table, and I find magnets on the floor near the fridge instead of on it.

I find a variety of other treasures as I go: a car transporter truck, Curious George, a plastic strawberry ring, a little boy’s shirt, puzzle pieces, empty play dough containers, figurines, rain boots, a slide whistle, a single lego, a wooden rhythm block with no mallet, wooden cheese, a play dress, a pink hair brush, a blue ball, a walkie talkie radio, a masquerade mask, a broken mini-pad keyboard, and that is just today.

Mixture

Raising Toddlers– Not for the Faint of Heart

Meaning in the Mahem

I had gathered the orange papers and laid them on a desk in our kitchen, and later that day when Yona rediscovered them, I asked her what they were. “Tiger stripes.” Of course.