Servitude, Schmervitude

Quick Story: When we were still living in Illinois (I was probably a few years old) both of my parents came down with what they call the Alien Death Flu and couldn't physically keep up with all three of us kids, so they pulled an air mattress into the living room and Joe (I'm assuming he was about six...I only have these memories falsely implanted in my brain, so what do I know...) was in charge of making sure we generally stayed out of trouble and made cereal and chicken noodle soup to eat. That's right--the six year old was in charge of caring for the family and from what I understand, he did a darn good job. If Mom hadn't instilled a sense of independence in us and encouraged us to do things on our own, life during the Alien Death Flu would've been that much more miserable for her and Dad.

Reflecting back on that, I've officially decided to take a page out of my mother's book and lead the charge in making our kids as autonomous as possible. This definitely goes against the grain for a first time mother, but I think crossing over from baby to toddlerhood has really helped me realize that Audrey is capable of doing things herself and also helping me do things; the sooner I start encouraging her, the better.

Considering life is going to become significantly more challenging come January, I've started having Audrey help me with little things around the house so she'll have the hang of it by the time Norbert gets here. Right now, her chief responsibilities are mail lady and laundry gal. Every day, we take a bag to get the mail and she pulls it out one at a time to help me sort it. Then, we deliver the mail where it needs to go in the house--It's good one-handed walking practice! When I do the laundry, she pushes the laundry basket wherever we need to go, pulls out the clothes and hands them to me to fold and once we're done, she pushes the basket full of folded clothes to go put them away. How many one-year olds are that helpful??

It sounds kind of like indentured servitude and some moms may consider it making my daughter grow up too fast, but Audrey loves getting to be a helper and it's an important step for us to take to remain sane with two under two in the house. Next step? Cooking dinner and vacuuming.

Norbert is 17 weeks old, the size of an onion (really?! I don't find onions to be cute.) The little onion is kickin' Mama every once in a while to remind her that she's not alone and is also going through a growth spurt that makes her super hungry and tired!