It has seemed like it would last forever, the many many diapers, lining them up to get all their shoes on, the bickering and fussing and whining. And truth be told, all that is still something I deal with every single day! When this baby is born, I will still have 4 kids ages 5 & under, lol, so it's not a season I'll be leaving anytime soon.
But the strange thing? Hmmm...the older ones are getting, well, OLDER! It's the most fascinating thing to observe them changing through the months, and especially my oldest, Rachel, who is 12 - but going on 15, if you know what I mean. Ever since she was at least 10, she has been a teenager in the truest form of the word; she matured quite quickly both outward and inward. We've had to deal with alot - and the past couple of years have been rough.
But now? Strangely enough, we are in this kind of "in between" place, it is so calm and so EASY to have her around that I am almost holding my breath! But I love it of course, it is so fun to have her around - she is like a friend more than anything, laughing with me about the little ones' antics, and giving me knowing looks about things. I have to remember that it could soon change and IF and WHEN it does, not to take it personally - I do expect her to be a normal teenager with a 'tude soon. =)Here's a cute picture of her goofing off - she LOVES to edit her pictures so, the blue streak? Not really there. =)
But last night, it was so awesome - she has been bugging me to change the kids' chores for a long time now. You know, that whole thing of "I know wayyyyy more than you, Mom..." lol. She said to me that when SHE babysits, she makes the kids do chores that they don't normally do and they do them JUST FINE! So why don't I make them do more than what they do now? She started telling me all the things that we should change and I was like okay, can you write it all down on paper?
So she wrote this whole chart - rather quickly, actually! And I am amazed at what she came up with - using this new chore chart, it COMPLETELY eliminates the need for me to ever unload the dishwasher, and ever do ANY laundry. Is that not crazy? By that, though, I mean - I don't have to put it away or fold it.
Rachel12 - Laundry (put in the loads, fold, put away - each day)
James10 - Alternate dinner dishes one day, unload dishwasher 2x the next day
Isaac9 - Alternate dinner dishes one day, unload dishwasher 2x the next day
Grace7 - Clear off the dinner table & wipe it
Marie5 - Set the dinner table
Jack3 - Clean up his cars & tracks (multiple times a day, lol)
In addition to these chores, each child named above is in charge of a different main room in the house, and they clean it however many times it gets messy. Usually 2x a day on a school day, 3x per day on non-school days.
Rachel - Dining Room (including tabletop)
James - Living Room (including couch cushions)
Isaac - Family Room
Grace - Hallway & Kitchen floor
Marie - Entryway (usually LOTS of shoes)
Jack - Cars & Tracks
They'll also vacuum their individual rooms if I need them to. All of this has taken years of putting into practice and it has paid of soooo much!!! Now it's just something they all do whenever I tell them - and if someone takes longer than 5 minutes to get up and go clean it, they get an extra job. Which is great for me cuz I sure have lots of extra jobs up my sleeve, lol!
This morning we began to implement our new chore chart. James was woken up 10 min earlier than normal so he could unload the dishwasher - so nice to have that ready for me to quickly load throughout the day! When Rachel gets home, she will fold & put away/sort the pile of laundry I've accumulated while at school so the couch will stay clean. James will unload the dishwasher full of the day's dishes/dinner prep sometime before dinner.
Loving the new system, especially the laundry. =) I'm trying to get them as streamlined as I can before the baby comes (just 4 weeks away now!) so that I don't have to worry about no-one knowing how to do certain things, you know?
And loving how my daughter actually wanted to take over the chores! She is also putting together a sticker sheet for each child - once it is full they get a certificate (she got them from a garage sale with this idea in mind) and they can turn in the certificate for a prize.
Happy days!
