A Cleaning Frenzy

You know how you have those days where for whatever reason, you're incredibly motivated to get things done? Today was one of those days. I typically stay pretty busy, but had some things in mind I wanted to get done around the house this afternoon. My morning was the usual, up at 5:00 a.m. with my early bird, Eli. We were at school/work by 8:00 a.m. and left a little later than normal, at 1:00 p.m. The reason for the delay was Silas had to finish his lunch. Anyone that knows Silas is aware of the fact that it's hard to get food in him. His teachers from the Bunnies class had a pretty good understanding of this and really worked with him on eating his lunch. Since Silas is a big Shining Star now, his new teachers obviously aren't aware of this issue yet since it's only been a week. I hadn't really even thought of bringing it up until today. When I went to get him, there sat his entire plate of food along with a cupcake since it was someone's birthday. His teacher told me their rule was the kids can't have their treats if they don't eat their lunch. Understandable. I am thankful for this rule. I mentioned to her that I really don't even like him having his drink until he's eaten quite a bit, because the kid would live on a liquid diet if I'd allow him to. So, I brought him in my office and had him eat his spaghetti before we left. If I weren't to do this, all I'd hear on the way home and all afternoon is, "Mommy, I'm soooo hungry." There's no way I'm fixing him or buying him another lunch when he had a perfectly good lunch that he chose not to eat. So, I often have to sit around and wait for him to eat - and it works out for him too, because Eli is more than happy to help him gobble it up. Eli rarely turns down food. My two opposites.

So then of course we went to the lake for a run, stopped by Target to pick up some cleaning supplies and headed home where I was on a mission - Operation Deep Cleaning. I practically bathed the carpets in stain remover and let it sit for awhile. In the meantime I moved all the furniture in the living room, sweeping and mopping underneath everything. Then I cleaned the upholstery on the couches, scrubbed down the kitchen and bathrooms, dusted the entire house and finally cleaned the carpets. I convinced Dusty to run by the store and rent a Rug Doctor even though he didn't really have the spare time - but thankfully made time to do that for me.

Before I wrap it up, I'll end with the Top Three Things that Made my Day:

1. This morning I walked in my office and had a little surprise sitting on my desk. Last week I was sitting in the front office and a co-worker/friend walked through the door. I immediately asked her what perfume she was wearing, because she smelled so good. She actually had it in her bag and let me try it out. I loved it. I asked her a few days later what it was called again because I wanted to get some. So this morning I found a bottle of lotion and spray on my desk. How sweet and thoughtful is that? What a blessing it is when someone does something so generous to encourage or brighten your day. I really was overwhelmed with thankfulness at her sweet gesture. What if we all made a point to go out of our way to do something nice for someone more often?

2. While we were at the lake, I finished my run and pushed the stroller over to the edge of the water so the boys could throw rocks. Two ducks were swimming to shore and walked out of the water right next to us. Silas started talking to the ducks as if they were his friends. "Hi duckies. Are you hungry? Mommy forgot the duck food." Then he threw a rock. They got scared and swam away. A few minutes later they returned with some friends. Silas counted them as they swam in a line and came to shore. Eli joined in, repeating "Hi duckies! Swimming. Water. Momma?" Silas was asking the ducks where their mommy was and if they told their mommy he threw a rock at them. He then asked me, "Mommy, are they are family? Are those the children and that's the momma?" It was really cute. Si and E were both fascinated with them and I couldn't help but smile as they conversed with the ducks. Si even told me what they were saying back to him. Silly boy.

3. Throughout the day I noticed Silas kept saying "ya" instead of "you". He told me about a million times, "I love ya, Mommy. Love ya." It's as if he were trying out a new word to see how it sounded. Every single time he had a question or something referring to me, it was "ya". I answered him back one, "No, I love ya." He laughed at me, knowing I picked up on it. I'm not sure who he's hearing it from, because I don't know that I ever use that word, but I found it funny. Even when I tucked him in bed tonight, as I closed the door I heard him call after me, "Love ya, Mommy." Love ya too, kid!