Bad Momma, Bad! And Other Little Items of No Particular Interest

Leif putting a puzzle together while I cleaned cleaned cleaned. It was taken through a window wall (we have a wall in our house is that is floor to ceiling windows - this was taken through that!) so that is why you might see chair reflections, etc.

The other day, I woke up and realized that I had had enough chaos in my house for far too long.  I hopped out of bed, started cleaning, and didn't stop until dinnertime (Jason was a good lad and brought home pizza so I didn't have to cook).  And after dinner, I cleaned some more.  I cleaned until late in the night.

Since before our trip to Maryland, our house has been, well, somewhere between "okay" and "disaster zone" and it wasn't making me, or anyone else in the family happy. 

Between a homemade christmas (or ,ahem, an attempted one), and loads of crafty homemade-ness since then, I haven't had much time to put in to cleaning.  And somewhere between "okay" and "disaster zone" is not a good place to be.

So, I cleaned it all up.  But that meant a whole day was gone with me not playing with Leif - no puzzles, no books, nothing.  I gave him his meals and snacks, but he was on his own for the rest (hence the title of this post, "Bad Momma, Bad!" - he didn't say it, I did!)

All that day, he played with puzzles, watched movies, undid the laundry I had just folded and the animals I had just put away, and generally kept himself entertained.  In fact, you can see the animals scattered in the background of that top picture.  I had just put them back in the basket not an hour before, and out they came - scattered, but not played with.  Grrr...

Anyway, he was a very good boy that whole day, and I'm glad I took the day to clean because the whole family has been a lot happier going to sleep and waking up to a nice clean house.  Everything runs more smoothly when a house is clean, donchya think?

I have a few more finishing touches to do today, and then the house will be spotless and ready for most anything we want to do.

And what do we want to do?  Play and spend a whole bunch of time together!

And drink lots of Thai Iced Tea.  Lots and Lots and Lots.

I ordered a big box of various Thai foods that are somewhat hard (read: impossible) to find here in the backcountry.  One of them was Thai Iced Tea, so we can enjoy our favorite drink without paying 3 or more bucks a pop at a restaurant (not that one around here offers it!)  Yay!  It tastes just like the restaurant stuff! Lovin' it.

Leif has been lots of fun lately.  He pretend plays all time, and it makes us laugh.  We love to hear the little stories he comes up with.  Even just the simplest things make us laugh, like when he takes a bit of train track and turns it vertically, like a ladder, then uses his hands to climb the ladder, as if his hands are two different people.  They talk back and forth to each other, and they say the funniest things - just so random.  I can't recall any at this moment, but when I do, I'll blog it in to posterity.

He also does really special things, like taking my toothbrush and scrubbing out the shower with it.  I snatched it from him, put it on the vanity, and proceeded to get him out of the shower and ready for bed.  Next morning, I woke up and went to brush my teeth, and oh, you know it!  Totally forgot that he had used it in the shower (and that I hadn't cleaned it - it was still in all it's shower-muck glory!) and proceeded to brush my teeth with it.  Right as I was about to rinse, I realized what I'd done.  Much Hydrogen-Peroxiding ensued (of both my mouth, and the toothbrush).  To make matters worse, he was in the shower because he'd had a potty accident and had poo all over him.  That's what he was cleaning in the shower. 

Oh. Special. Day.

All of our azaleas have kicked the bucket with that recent cold snap.  It was so sad...one day they're flowering and gorgeous, the next day the flowers are drooping and falling off, and the next, the whole plant is brown.  I have around 6-7 large azalea bushes, so that makes up the majority of the landscaping in the yard.  Now dead.  Lovely. 

Lately, Leif has loved coloring.  He received a box of really nice crayons from Aunt 2p & Co. for Christmas and he'll go to the armoire, take out paper, grab his tin of crayons from the shelf in the playroom and sit down at the desk and draw.  When he is done, he puts them away.  Most of the time.  Love that!  He's very proud of his artwork, which at this point, is just scribbles of color, but still pretty. 

He's also been doing much better in the potty department.  We've had an awfully long struggle with it (long story - don't feel like getting in to right now!) but he seems to finally be back to being potty-trained again.  Hoorah!  It's only been a year!  We're all wiser for the experience, though.

Leif has been singing a lot lately, too.  He's never been hugely in to singing, but now he'll just break in to song whenever.  Sometimes, I recognize the songs, and sometimes they're his own tunes.  It's insanely cute, and if I can ever get him to do anything in front of the video camera, I'll post it!  Lately, his favorite songs have been, "Twinkle Twinkle," the Theme Song from Thomas the Train, and the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling."  It really is a good night when he's singin' that song! :)

Anyway, I'll quit before I get too rambly...I always start a post with good intentions to keep it short, and with more interesting tidbits, but it never works out that way! 

Have a good day!

In his undies, puzzling.  That's his nature table there in the forefront. :)