Airing out the house yesterday didn't go quite as planned. I opened the blinds and then, ignoring the layers of dust that had settled over the months of inactivity, opened the windows as wide as they could go. The wonderful smell of spring started pouring into our house and to encourage the fresh air to circulate further I turned on the ceiling fans.
The ceiling fans hadn't bothered to dust themselves off all winter long (those lazy, lazy ceiling fans) so I ended up lifting up all the dust from the fans and every other dusty surface in our house (which are not few). The once fresh, springy smelling air now had that musty winter smell back--and ten times worse.
So that's why we do spring cleaning!
Sneezing my way through my work, I started trying illuminate some of our radioactive dust bunnies before they come out of hibernation. Rachel was no help at all...so I caged her in our living room using the kitchen chairs.
At first I wasn't sure if it would work because she can crawl underneath them, but she didn't even try. Apparently walking along holding furniture is the new crawling and she wasn't about to use last month's fad to attempt an escape from the living room. She tried squeezing through the chairs, she tried climbing over the chairs, she tried going around the chairs, but she never tried going under them.
She understood that I had set up some boundaries and she did not take her confinement lightly. She walked up and down the row of chairs crying, "Mama!" and occasionally bbrrr-ing her lips to show her utmost distaste for the situation by spraying slobber all over the place.
And doesn't she just look pathetic?
I fell for her act a few times and climbed over the chairs to hold her, after wiping her nose, and read her a story or two and start her playing with some blocks or ripping a magazine or pulling books off the shelf--a good time consuming activity--and then would go back over the barrier and start cleaning again.
The minute my foot was on the other side of that barrier, Rachel would act like her life was over and would throw herself dramatically on the floor.
Spring cleaning is going to be a long process this year. Would you believe I only got the kitchen floors done yesterday?
Isn't it amazing how one little baby can demand so much time and attention that it seems like the tiniest things we get done seem like an amazing feat? I am very impressed that you are going to do spring cleaning. Good luck! The weekends are nice because I can give the kids to Mike all day and I clean. It's amazing what gets done without having to supervise a child.
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous that you got your kitchen floors done! I haven't even gotten that far, and I don't have a baby to blame. I also have two roommates who suck at cleaning the kitchen, so it gets nasty in there fast.
ReplyDeleteJust a little perspective for you. :)
Well... she can't have you ALL the time. :-D She'll survive, I'm sure.
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