Mess Maker

So, I really need to simplify our life and all the things we have in our home, cause the kids are getting really fast at destroying things and making messes. There is one kid in particular that has really upped his mess making game. And that person is Owen.

Who? Me? Yes Owen. You. That pic above was taken early on a Saturday morning, 5 Oct, two weeks ago. Owen likes to get up early. And he'll go turn on all the lights. I'm glad that it usually doesn't wake up Daniel. I don't mind him waking up early, cause he doesn't bother us usually, and he'll also take a nap. So he just goes about his day. If Daniel wakes up the day is usually bad, cause D won't go down for naps so then we're all miserable. So, on Oct 5, I came downstairs that morning and he had made himself some bread and jelly and had sat himself down to eat.

I thought that was cute. A week later, on another Saturday morning, 12 October, he was once again up and enjoying his day. We were all awake and about too, but then I decided to go snuggle with Peter. So I was in my bedroom enjoying time with my baby. After a bit there was a knock at the door to inform me that Owen had ruined my oatmeal. "He put ketchup in the oatmeal". I figured he'd gotten up and put ketchup in the cooked oatmeal. Annoying, but not a big deal. I came down to asses the mess. And it wasn't the cooked oatmeal, it was the bin of dry oats. I started to clean it up when I realized I should document. So I got the camera.

I had already thrown it all in the garbage... what is in the trash there is a combination of oats, ketchup, about a half of box of Morning Summit Cereal, half a bag of dried apricots, a good helping of ricemilk, just for good measure and to make sure it got soaked all the way to the bottom and that there would be no oats to save. Owen....

Don't do that. Your mother doesn't like to waste food. "I sorry Mommy." he said, and then he put himself in time out.

Sigh. I handled it pretty good. And it really could have been a lot worse. I was lucky they kept it all in the bin. It could have been all over the kitchen floor or on the carpets, so I'm counting my blessings. It helps to record the mess, cause it is funny after the fact. Other messes Owen has made this past month:
- He and Daniel took a bath together and squirted I don't know how much of my Costco sized hair conditioner in the tub. I've taken a few baths and scrubbed it twice but it is still super slippery.
- He likes taking Lily's 300 piece puzzle and throwing it down the stairs. I told Lily that she's gotta keep it hidden, cause I'm not picking it up again.
- He emptied a small tube of white toothpaste all over Peter's high chair. Again, I know it could have been worse, and that I was fortunate that it was on a washable surface and not the carpet or something.
- Owen likes to go in Ethan's room and empty his pensil sharpener and dump the shavings all over Ethan's desk. It is for that reason that I also believe it was Owen that emptied a pencil sharpener shaving container on couch in the front room. When I saw that mess, I looked to the ceiling and yelled "Kids are the worst!"
- and tonight I saw that our container of garlic salt was now empty and had been shaken out over the sink. I guess I should be glad it was over the sink.
Owen also keeps picking up Peter and putting P on the couch. Peter hasn't fallen yet, but I'll tell him "Don't pick up Peter! He is too little" And Owen will say "I sorry Mom" and I'll get Peter down, and as soon as Owen has another chance, he picks him up again.

So it's hard enough to manage things around here without them intentionally making messes. With Owen doing this extra work and destroying things, I've got to find a solution or I'm just going to spend my entire life sorting their messes.

I need to get rid of all the unnecessary things they make messes with, or the things I have and might use (like fabric and sewing things) but I'm not going to get to it anytime in the next 10 years, and the kids find it and get into it and make a mess (barbie clothes) so I've donated most of my fabrics. I have a small bin of thread and some fabrics, but it's high in storage. I'm keeping things in our bedroom up high, where I can lock them up thanks to our door lock. Time to get rid of stuff that I'm not using or that's not serving us! I got rid of a ton of clothes in storage. I'm slowly working my way through books too. I'm saving papers to be the last thing I go through.

And the kids aren't entirely the cause of messes. Last Friday I woke up to this:

Corey always puts a cup of water by his bed, and often will knock it over with his hand. I'm glad that he got a towel this time. When this happens, in his zombie like state he usually shoves any books on his night stand onto the floor. The wood is nice and ruined. But we'll get new furniture someday when the kids are gone. We're just going for functional right now, so it still works.

One thing that I know the kids in the future will love to talk about how much they hated is the dirty dish rags that I microwave. So the e-cloth towels are amazing, but it doesn't take long for them to get a dirty dishrag smell. I used to boil them to kill the stink, but it's easier to microwave them. So I do that one at a time. But I often forget to get them out right away. So the kids will come along, hungry, looking for food - and will notice the microwave saying "Your meal is ready...." and they'll think "Mmm! I'm hungry, I wonder what food is in here?" And they'll open it and ...EW! It stinks and looks gross "Mom! I hate that so much...." It's mostly Ethan and Hyrum that I hear from about how much they hate it. So, I made messes in my attempt to clean. The basement right now is horrible. But upstairs is looking good. I'm really going to get rid of stuff this time though. They're taking it up a notch on the mess making, so I gotta take it up a notch on the clean solving solution.