cleaning up

i get ben to clean up toys here and there throughout the day. i don't want to have a stand off so i try to suggest we better clean up in a nonchalant way to ward off the "no"s. "ben - we better pick up these cars so we have room for playing in the ball pit - quick, let's clean them up!" then we both put them away together. for the most part, he's a great helper but i think it's key that i pitch in as well.

yesterday, tim had to work from 7:30am - 7:30pm. avery would not sleep. i had to hold her and walk around bouncing her to put her to sleep and then if i laid her down, she was awake again. i'm sure i accidentally overfed her because the crying sometimes seemed like hungry crying but it was actually tired crying. we didn't have a car to get out to have her sleep in her carseat and do something to entertain ben AND it poured rain all day so no walks. it was a very, very long day.

ben was a doll. he played and played and even though he has come down with a cold, was in a pretty good mood. but there was no cleaning up yesterday. i didn't want to tell him to clean up and have to hold him to it if he said no. i couldn't really help him clean up because i was always holding avery. so i let the house fall to pieces. i was surprised at how unsettling i found it to have toys everywhere. and my poor feet stepped on many a tiny, sharp toy. haha.

BUT we made it through the day, of course. i had to take a couple photos of the clutter for memory's sake. (though they're a little dark as it was nearing the end of the day and i'm not a big flash fan.)

today, avery slept a little better and we did much better to pick up one activity before starting the next. plus, i cleaned off that little green table so that there was room for colouring, painting, and play dough (all things that we did today). it's so much easier to enjoy toys when they're easy to find and there'a a space to play with them in.