Excuse The Messy House, Toddler At Work!

Excuse The Messy House, Toddler At Work!

3 Aug 2018 | 4 min Read

alpana nagar

Author | 1 Articles

We all earmark some time of the day/week/month to do a thorough cleaning of the house. Well I definitely don’t mean getting-down-on-all-4’s-and-scrubbing-the-kitchen-floor level activity. I simply mean the basic, good old putting-everything-back-at-its own-place kind of activity – something in which each family member can play a relevant role (at least in my case, the husband must be motivated by showing him a post-cleaning heavenly picture; of how he will be able to find his belt, watch, car key in a jiffy!)

Our weekly house cleaning before the daughter was basic – re-setting the  bookshelf, keeping the electronics (chargers, iron etc.) back in place, re-filling groceries, folding some strewn clothes and so on.

Well it is an understatement to say that life has changed after the baby. Life has gone from an occasional 4th gear car drive in Bangalore to a permanently on a roller coaster situation. Everything we had read or heard about babies…. came true!

Here is what to expect when you put your house back in order, during various stages of your kid’s years.

Just born to under 3 months – Home cleaning! What is that? New parents just need to make sure the diaper, wipe, new clothes, burp cloth, sheets, rubber sheets, feeding pillow, food (more food) and of course the baby is handy. If one has good help at home in terms of family or a caretaker, at least some bit is taken care of.

3 months to 6 months – Every other thing mentioned above plus  the heap of soft toys, teethers, musical toys at every corner of the bed. Mind you, here parents are solely responsible for leaving things around. The kid is still a cute little human!

6 months to 1 year – A lot of baby stuff is not needed that frequently, hence you can keep it stacked somewhere and return to it when needed. But by now, the kid is crawling, showing interest in books, toys, more toys and music. A crawling baby and her toys, shoes, socks are everywhere around the house. You suddenly become aware of the frequency at which you are bending down to pick things from the floor.

1 year – 1.5 years – The happy toddler is walking, grabbing things and dropping them where she pleases. Putting things in completely unexpected places – toys in refrigerator, toys in kitchen, toys in shoe racks, you name them and the house has seen it all. You try to get a nice mat, place the toddler with some toys on it and go get a sip of water and by the time you turn back, 6 seconds later, the toys, the toddler and the mat are all missing from their original place.

1.5 years plus – A 1.5-year-old is a completely different creature from a 2-year-old. By now, she knows her abilities. She can now reach the second shelf and pick things, she can now open cabinets and drawers and has the complete wherewithal of turning the house into a big play area. You now find used batteries, open color pens, torn pages from her books, pieces of plastic that used to be toys, hair clips, blocks, candy wrappers, scribbled pages, food pieces etc. everywhere. Here is when you learn to make decisions; to pick stuff up every 15 minutes or wait till she naps and carefully maneuver your way on the floor without stepping on things. I always go with the latter option!

Now this was me documenting my cleaning/picking stuff off the floor chores in just over 2 years of my daughter’s existence. There will be school projects, coloring activities, friends coming over, swim classes, dance classes, baking cakes, learning how to skate, makeshift tents and so many more reasons that will give me a messy house and hence, note to self – Keep going and enjoy while it lasts!

 

Also read: 9 Types of Moms We Normally Come Across!

Explore the entire collection of articles: Fun Read

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