small things {plopping}

small things #66 ... plopping

My kids are suffering from a serious malady.  I don't think it's life-threatening, but it is serious.  (Of course, if we can't find an antidote it might become life-threatening because I might lose my mind!)  Perhaps your kid's suffer from the same illness.  Here are the symptoms:

~ randomly depositing toys and other small items in strange and random places.

~ unconsciously dropping gadgets and gizmos on any flat surface when encountering another more desirable gadget or gizmo.

~ leaving socks, hair rubber bands, pj's, backpacks and shoes wherever they fall when they are shed from their bodies.

~ unloading precious belongings anywhere and wondering later where they are.

Any other families out there with rampant plopping in their homes?  Please tell me we aren't the only ones!

I have stood dumbfounded as I watched my son walk into the living room with a pair of socks in his hands and walk out of the living room having successfully deposited them in the La-Z-Boy.  Plop!

I have watched wide-eyed as my oldest daughter has cartwheeled into the family room with a magazine in her hand and cartwheeled back out leaving the magazine peeking half-way out from under the couch.  Plop!

I have watched stunned as my middle girl has walked up to the dining room table and exchanged her handful of Legos for the Strawberry Shortcake dolls she previously deposited there.  Plop!

I have observed flabbergasted as my baby girl has trotted into the kitchen with an armful of baby doll paraphernalia and dropped it on the floor upon spotting her Tinkerbell cell phone under the dishwasher.  Plop!

Plop!  Plop!  Plop!

A few times a day I declare that there is an abundance of ploppage building up on the flat surfaces of our home and my kids scurry around gathering up the items they have pollinated throughout the house  - which I'm grateful for.  But I truly wish that they would get into the habit of putting things away, or as we say in our house, "where they live."  

I keep thinking that they will catch on and realize that the amount of time that they spend cleaning up is 100% avoidable if they kept their belongings tidy, but I also recognize that it's a natural part of growing up.  Maybe there is a vaccine against this childhood disease.

Until the medical community discovers a way to immunize my kids against plopping, I'll just have to use my Buy It Back Box.  But I'm going to need a bigger box.

Plopping ... an opportunity for my kids to grow and learn.  And for Mommy to pray for patience.