Friday morning I sat down on the living room floor with the intention of folding the laundry. Gabby followed me and plopped her precious little butt right next to me on the ground.
“Would you like to help mommy fold the clothes?” I asked.
“Yes!” she said with a little twinkle in her eye.
“Ok, you get all of the socks and put them in a pile, ok?”
“Ok!”
Well, that’s not what happened. She grabbed a sock and threw it. Then she picked up another one and threw it.
And another one.
And another one.
My first reaction was to tell her to stop because she was making a mess and mommy didn’t need any more messes to clean up!
But, I didn’t tell her to stop. Instead, I grabbed a handful of the laundry and threw it at her.
She started laughing.
Then she grabbed a handful of laundry and threw it at me.
We both started laughing.
Laundry Fight! Laundry Fight!
At one point, a sock landed on her had and she started laughing uncontrollably. I started laughing uncontrollably and we both had tears streaming down our faces from laughing so damn hard.
Our little laundry fight only lasted a few minutes and we found ourselves worn out from all of the laughing and tossing of clothing.
As we lay on top of a pile of socks and t-shirts, I looked over at my daughter who had a smile from ear to ear. She was so happy.
And so was I.
Such a simple little moment had provided the both of us with so much joy.
That moment almost didn’t happen because I didn’t want “another mess.” I almost told my daughter “No! Don’t throw the clothes!” Because that’s what my first reaction usually is…
To say “no.”
To say “not right now.”
To say “later.”
To say “don’t’ make a mess!”
To say “Mommy’s too busy.”
I remember a commercial that was on TV a few years ago. It was a little boy who had got the cereal down and taken the milk out and poured himself a bowl of cereal under the kitchen sink. He made a mess everywhere. When the mom came in and saw what he had done, she looked at him and smiled.
I remember thinking. “Oh HELLS NO.”
If I walked into the kitchen to find my little toddler had made herself a bowl of cereal, my first reaction would not be “Aw, how cute, she made herself a bowl of cereal.”
It would be “ah. OMG! Why didn’t you just tell mommy you were hungry? YOU MADE A MESS EVERYWHERE AND I JUST MOPPED THE FLOOR!”
I can’t tell you how many times my kids have wanted to help with something and I’ve told them no because I knew that them helping meant more mess for me to clean up.
And it makes me sad that I’ve been that way. It makes me sad that I’ve denied my children and myself “Little Moments” because I didn’t want to deal with a little mess.
It wasn’t easy for me to be all “To hell with it, let her throw the socks!” Everything inside of me was screaming “don’t throw the socks! You’re making a mess!”
But I kept hearing this little voice say “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Just enjoy the moment.”
(Again with the Voices In My Head. They’re really starting to get on my nerves.)
And so I gave into the moment and had a little fun.
The truth of the matter is that the mess I was so worried about took 5 minutes to clean up but the memories that I made with my daughter in that pile of clean socks and t-shirts will last for the rest of my life.
