The Glue Zone

Here is my daughter, happily working on a glue project at her craft table in our livingroom. What you DON'T see is her mother lurking in the background, trying to take calm, steadying breaths and she watches sequins, buttons, and bits of construction paper fly to the floor all around the table.

I am a neurotic over-cleaner. I admit it. One of my greatest joys this week was cashing in on the Christmas present Bryan had promised me--a house cleaner who came and did a major overhaul cleaning of our tiny little home. This rendered me giddy for an entire 24 hours as I ran from room to room exclaiming "who knew the base of the coffee pot was so filthy?" and "Bryan, did you put a new bar of soap in the shower? No? Wow....." and "LOOK! The sheets and towels are all folded!". It nearly put me over the edge.

My child, as it turns out, has a bit more of a...free spirit than I do. Unlike most oldest children (namely, me), who happen to be orderly, organized and systematic in their thinking, Zoey seems to thrive on disaster spread around her. We can't keep all the buttons and sequins and wiggly eyes and crayons in the cute little organizer with cute little compartments that Mommy bought at Tuesday Morning for a really good price because the sight of such a mess in the livingroom every single day was giving her panic attacks...no, it's really best for the creative mind if ALL the crafty paraphrenalia is spread out in front of her. No searching for the next button or cardboard flower to afix to Auntie's birthday card! It's right there in front of her!

(As a cute and slightly sad side note, when Zoey had finished decorating Auntie's birthday card, likely adding at least 50 cents worth of weight to the outside of the envelope, she announced she'd like to drive to the "aw-pope" (airport) and pick Auntie up. Ohhhh, if only it were that easy!)

Anyway. The two main problems here are my own neurotic nature and the sheer lack of space in our present household. I am hoping that the move to our new and much larger digs in Puyallup will help me let go of at least a little bit of cleaning. Because, while my rational mind would LOVE for my daughter to have at least a little space in the house to spread out and nurture her creative side, this part of my brain is far outnumbered by the OCD side that leads me to furtively clean and organize her glue station while she's sleeping because I just can't relax myself in our tiny shared living space while there is a disaster zone lurking in the corner.

I'm not saying I'm proud of this side of myself. I know I should just let it go. And I LOVE when Zoey pats the chair next to her at the table and says "come on, Mama! Yets goo!". Yes, Zoey. Lets. It'll be fun! And you know what else is fun? Picking up our messes! Right? No?

Let's just say that if my second child comes along and has a slightly more structured spirit, my feelings won't be hurt.