Housework (times three)

Except for laundry, having three children does not triple my housework by three. However, it does take me three times as long to do any house "work." Take for instance - unloading the dishwasher. Under normal circumstances (i.e., no distractions), this task would take me no more than 12 minutes to complete. With three young children it is considerably longer.

As soon as I opened the dishwasher, Princess toddled over in her walker. Miss Curious needed to see what was going on. She immediately started pulling out all the colorful plastic forks and spoons. Before I could get them out of her hands, she started putting them in her mouth. When I finally pried them from her tiny little fingers, she began wailing her head off started crying. I closed the dishwasher and set off to find her an appropriate "chew toy." After searching thru the playroom, I finally found a gi-normous plastic spoon that came in an egg & spoon race game. That should keep her busy for a few (and its big enough she can't gag herself or poke her eyes out.)

Back to my task. I slide out the upper basket and start pulling out the tons of sippy cups and lids and bottles and nipples and tiny plastic bowls. While the three blue Lightning McQueen sippy cups with twist on lids look identical, they are actually ever so slightly different. If you don't get the right top with the right bottom, they will leak - everywhere. Keep this in mind the next time you are out purchasing sippy cups. Either buy enough at the same time and better your chances of them all being made from the same lot - OR - risk it and buy more later only to find out they were made in three different plants somewhere in China and have the slightest difference in the groves around the lids. While screwing and unscrewing, I am distracted by Big Sticky who has found an old Lightning McQueen push button night lite (do we have enough Lightning McQueen stuff?) that he insists needs new batteries. I reluctantly replace the 4 AA batteries. I say reluctantly only because I am sure that after running off with the night lite, he will turn it on, immediately put it down (with it still on), and forget about it. I will then find it (with the batteries now burned out), hide it, only for him, or them, to find it again later.

Back to dishes. I finally get the upper drawer unloaded and move on to the bottom when Little Sticky announces that he needs to go pee-pee on the potty. I am ecstactic to assist him as this gets me ever so closer to having only one baby in diapers. He asks for privacy on this trip (which sometimes indicates a #2) so I linger around the hallway waiting for him to finish. When I return to the bathroom, I find half the roll of unused tissue all over the floor. I guess since he can't read magazines he needs another way to occupy his time in there. So, after getting him cleaned up and the floor cleaned up, I return to... oh yeah, the dishwasher. It's been so long now I forgot what I was doing.

Forty-five minutes later, I finally get the dishwasher unloaded and all the dishes put away in their rightful spot.


Now, to reload with all the stuff that has piled up in the sink. Get your stopwatches ready...