12 years apart, part 1

Drew loves playing with the pots and pans.  Actually, it's more than that--it's part of his routine.  The first thing he does each morning is go to the pots and pans cupboard door, opens it, and says "uh oh" or "uh uh uh" until someone gets all of the pots and pans down on the floor for him.  And he's not satisfied until every last one (including lids) is on the ground. Then he sits and plays and plays and plays...switching the lids around, seeing which pots fit into which pans, dropping toys in, tasting the handles, and adding in cookies sheets, bowls, and other goodies from the other drawers and cupboards.

There's really no use putting them away until he goes to bed, and even then sometimes I just leave them out.  The mom of 12 years ago might've gone crazy with pots and pans (etc.) all over the floor all day long, but not this mom.  This mom doesn't care so much.  Maybe she's just plain lazier.  Or maybe she's decided she likes hurdling over pots and pans all day to burn those extra few calories.  Or maybe it's because she realizes that the day will come (too fast) when the kitchen and house stay clean and orderly because Drew (and the others) are too old for piles of playthings. 

Maybe because this mom realizes that instead of pots and pans and Legos left on the floor, someday Drew's piles will be different--piles that mean he's growing up.  Piles that remind her there's lots of people that want to hang out with this cool kid, too.  Piles that mean he's out doing stuff instead of hanging out at home.

Piles like Jake's.