Messes

Eliot had three baths yesterday.  I like to keep things clean and orderly, but with a toddler running around (and I am trying not to blame it on him being a boy), I have slowly learned to let go.  There will be times that I watch dirty feet creating tracks across my hardwood floors, but messes can be cleaned up. 

After breakfast, I sent Eliot outside to play.  He had way too much energy.  After an hour of baseball, he was full of dirt and sweat, so I gave him a bath.

Eliot loves playing in the bath.  The only thing that could get him out was a promise that he could brush his teeth.

After lunch, he surprisingly wasn't messy.  We had veggie pigs-in-a-blanket, grapes, cashews, and some chips, so I guess it was a rather clean meal.  However, he had a particularly messy diaper, so after I cleaned him up, he had another bath.

After a nap, Eliot was full of energy again, but it was raining.  I grabbed an umbrella, put him in his swim trunks, and we splashed in mud puddles.  Then Chris gave him a mini-bath in the kitchen sink.

In the evening, we headed out to campus for Eliot's first football game.  He did really well for a while, and I think he enjoyed having concession stand food.  In fact, he liked it so much that he spit his drink out all over himself and me.  Sigh.  This was not even worth giving him a bath when we got home, but, you know, it is all part of the game.

I don't know if boys are really that much more messy than girls.  I think toddlers are just explorers in general.  I try to get over it, though, and look for fun instead of ways to avoid messes.  I hope that as Eliot grows older, he'll say that a little rain never got in our way of a good time; instead, we just went out to splash in it.