Disaster Zone = Scatterbrained Mum

I'm not usually a complete 'neat freak', but I do like a relatively clean and ordered living space.  By American standards, our home is on the smaller side and it really is necessary to keep things put away just to be able to walk through unobstructed.  Lately, Aiden's love for chaos is bringing out my clutter-hating side.  In a compressed space, it just doesn't bode well for me that I must clean up after a hyperactive toddler who leaves a wake of blocks, toy cars, pots, pans and plastic bottles (from the recycling bin) behind him.  Don insists Aiden has too many toys and therefore, too many things to throw around.  I do agree that we should downsize a bit, perhaps getting rid of some of the little baby items.  But, at the same time, even with less toys, he still pulls out my pans in the kitchen and I cannot limit him to too few toys as he will be bored way too quickly...




Trying to keep Aiden entertained, constantly removing him from the top of our dining table and putting my pots and pans away several times a day makes my brain go haywire.  Yesterday, I cooked a meal in our slow cooker.  Or, I thought I did.  Three hours later, I discovered the cord, crimped between the ceramic pot and the metallic base, had melted and the copper wiring was partly exposed.  In a rush to either put the pot away or get the meal going, I had been too hasty in assembling the cooker.  In another act of complete ignorance coupled with morning foggy brain, I put ear drops into my right eye.  I was instantly aware of my mix-up of the two bottles with similar tops and rushed to put my eye under the running tap.  On Mondays, my friends ask me how my weekend was and I pause... what in the world DID I do?  ....thinking, thinking... absolutely no idea.  Will my brain come back to me again?  If I have a second child, will I start putting the laundry in the microwave?  Oh dear.




Today, after looking at the array of toys littering the floor, and seeing Aiden getting ancy to do something different, Don and I decided to go to 'Cheeky Monkeys' Play Barn.  The play equipment was bursting with squealing, delighted children climbing, jumping and racing through the maze of foam-padded platforms, slides and ball pits.  We carefully guided Aiden through, fending off any larger child that might accidentally knock him down.  He really enjoyed going down the slide, as there were three parallel slides that enabled Aiden to slide down between Mummy and Daddy.  He also loved the LED lights in the ceiling (inside the maze) and pointed to them excitedly every time we passed by them.  Before we stopped to eat lunch, Aiden discovered a little playhouse with shutters over the windows.  Every time he burst through the shutters to see us, he laughed and his wide smile wrinkled his nose.  Then, he carefully pulled each shutter back to do it again.  After lunch and some more exciting playtime, we drove back home and Aiden, energy finally exhausted, fell sweetly asleep in his car seat.