Crawling - not just for babies anymore

One thing I've experienced while being a mother these 9 months is that Moms do what it takes to get the job done.

The "job" being anything from breast feeding, to potty training, to housework...because let's face it...we can't ignore our other full time jobs of wife/chef/housekeeper/accountant/masteroftheuniverse forever.

We go to extreme measures to do what we need to do.

From whipping out the ladies at the Chick-Fil-A to nurse their newborn to letting their 2 year old run around the house naked for 3 days - 3 LOOOOOOOOONG days - sequestered in their home to get their kid potty trained.

We do it. No matter what...we do it.

I have this friend - we'll call her Garina. She needed to get her house clean. She had ignored the dishes, the laundry, the dirty floors long enough...the EPA threatened to put up this sign on her front door
So one morning Czarina - er - Garina - knew she needed to stick her little girl - let's call her - Belle - in her play area (with safe toys of course - Garina didn't want a visit from CPS either...) so she could get some cleaning done.

Oh whoa is me - Belle was having one of those days. You know the days - the day where the thing acts like a spider monkey and claws on your shirt, holding on for dear life to you, and won't let go. And at the slightest move of disengaging yourself from the little thing - she'd make a sound so unbearable, bust out the real tears, and stick out that lower lip - look at you with sad, sad eyes that clearly say "How can you possibly put me down and leave me?"

But, Garina was going to be strong today. Her house needed her. She had spent 45 minutes singing songs, playing dolls, making faces and showing off her best animated voices to Belle - that she knew she needed 30 minutes to just clean. So, she mustered up the strength and climbed out of Belle's play area.

Belle screamed and cried and tried to get out of jail. All the while - Garina would scream songs over the loud stream of water flowing from her sink. She'd look over at her wee one, smile really big and say "You're alright!" As Belle reached up with her pudgy hands for rescue out of her $200 play area fully equipped with foam mats, toys, love...

Garina rolled one of Belle's toys that made sound and just like a good little pup - er - girl - Belle crawled over to it and started playing. Lo and behold - Belle was distracted and started playing on her own! Garina seized the moment and started cleaning like a madwoman. Dishes in dishwasher, counter tops wiped, bottles washed, floors swept....then Belle saw Garina - the toy only distracted her for so long. Garina went back and rolled the toy again and Belle was distracted once more.

The Garina realized - if Belle didn't see her - she wouldn't get upset. And since Belle would stand up and look over her play gate, she was looking up to find her mom. So Garina did what she had to do to get her house clean. She crawled from room to room. Garina would clean the kitchen, duck under her kitchen island, crawl to the utility room and put in a load of laundry, she'd peek at Belle in her play area and would see her little love Bug's head poking over the play gate and when she didn't see her Mommy, she'd sit back down and continue to play. No tears, no drama.

Success! Clean house...dirty knees...