Lil' Helper

Brycen can actually be a huge help around the house when it wants to be (which is almost always, unless he's hungry or especially tired). Recently, his favorite things have been taking out the recycling and doing laundry.

We keep the recycling under the sink until it's full and needs to be taken out. I'm usually the only one that puts things in recycling because I usually do the dishes and like to rinse the recyclable products out first. As for the regular garbage, I trained Brycen awhile ago to clean up after himself by throwing away his wrappers and such as well as his diaper (they have their own diaper bail). He loves it and it's been fun but I never taught him specifically how to do recycling. But one day, an empty milk cartoon fell off the counter and Brycen chased after it. I thought he would just give it back to me but instead, he went, opened the under sink cabinet and threw it into recycling. I was beyond impressed for a boy that has never actually thrown anything into recycling, let alone knowing that it does get recycled in the first place. I then decided to test how well he knew his trashes...haha, seems like since I've become a Mommy, the term of what's "fun" has brought on a whole new meaning :).

I gave him a dirty diaper, a banana peel, an empty milk jug, and an empty apple juice bottle in a pile and told him, "garbage". He put the diaper in the diaper bail, the banana peel in the regular garbage and the milk and apple juice jugs under the sink without any further instructions or gestures from me. And then proclaimed, "All done" with his hands up and all. I might be easily impressed but I thought it was pretty good for a boy that just turned 18 months yesterday.

Taking out the recycling. Even though it looks to be Fall, don't let it fool you. It's mid-70s here in central Indiana and Brycen was a toasting (all his shorts were in the wash). I'm not just a horrible mother for letting him go shoe-less in almost mid-November.

He knows the routine well and won't let me help him besides propping the door open and setting him on the wheel.

Built in handle bars

and foot step. I'm beyond convinced that the genius designing this process had little kids in mind :)

Laundry.

He puts all the items into the washer (he grabs them out of the basket, walks to the washer, and I lift him up) and then later, he stands in front of the dryer and I hand him the items from the washer to put into the dryer. He then requests a dryer sheet, closes the door tightly, and asks to be picked up so he can push the button.

Is he perfect? Possibly..it's either that or he knows how to perform for the camera :) Just kidding but having a boy that loves to help, for sure comes in handy but it's not easy. I have to keep him busy with it. As soon as I pause or start cooking, Brycen goes to town with his usual routine of emptying every shelf and drawer in sight. So for every step forward, we sometimes take two steps back in the overall cleanliness of the house, but that's life. I have learned to just have a few goals of what to get done in day (like as in one or two :)) and then spend the rest partying, reading, and teaching the kiddo. We have been SO lucky with the weather this entire Fall. I still can't believe it's November and we are playing on playgrounds in shorts (we had one cold weekend and that weekend, I packed up all his shorts and Ts...I have since unpacked).

Btw, Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you Grandpa (my Dad) and all the other men and women out there for their service. We are so blessed.