My Baby Boy!

This is a picture of my baby boy, CJ, who turned one this October. This picture is of a family tradition where we let them dive into the cake totally unhibited. It makes a huge mess and leaves them with a serious sugar high but it sure is fun. All the kids ask if they can stuff their face in the cake too but alas that is a privilege awarded only to those celebrating their very first birthday. There is something special about being one and digging your face into a cake without getting in trouble. It just seems totally appropriate.

Seeing him dig into it with such fervor, getting messy but brimming from ear to ear with enthusiasm makes me remember what it's like to discover something new. Sometimes you just need to dig in and get your hands dirty. I'm one of those people that shys away from things that get you dirty. Probably because, as the mom, I'm going to have to clean it up. I've been guilty more times than I can count of telling my kids not to go outside because they might drag mud in on the carpet. When we go outside, I'm often telling them not to dig in the dirt or climb that tree because they might fall. I was never much into the outdoors growing up. I didn't lik to be hot or climb trees or do much that involved sweating. I was a bookworm and I still am BUT children, by nature, are discoverers. They want to dig in. It's the adults that don't let them because we have to clean up the mess.

I let CJ, my beloved baby boy, get messy because it was his birthday. His enthusiasm spilled over to the whole family. We were laughing and giggling right along with him. Isn't it funny that any other day of the year this might have been cause for anything BUT celebratory giggles. I would have just gotten frustrated and irritated knowing the enormous amount of cleaning ahead of me. Instead, I had already planned for it. I knew he was going to dive in so we dressed for the occasion. He was already down to the diaper and ready to go in the tubby when the fun was done! We all chipped in cleaning up his high chair and the table and the floor and the.....you get the picture.

So why can't we do this every day? No, I don't mean smashing our faces into surgar packed birthday cakes. I mean digging in and getting a little messy. Going outside and making mudpies or climbing trees (carefully because the bookworm in me still cringes at the possible fall that could come...) The point is that being prepared for it could make the difference. Some good playclothes that can handle the dirt, a place to knock the dirt off your shoes by the door or maybe even dedicated shoes for outside play that stay by the door (Wow that's a thought!) Maybe a little station set up with some cleaning wipes to get the major gunk off before heading for the tub. I suppose there all kinds of ways to prepare for a major outdoor adventure without making Mom have to hire Merry Maids to help her clean up the destruction that follows.

It is hard for someone like me who likes to clean as little as possible to let the kids go crazy. I like my house to be kept moderately neat. When I see a lego bomb go off I can feel a tightening in my chest. I often don't see the great creation they have made. I just see a mess I have to clean up. It is so easy for moms to lose that creative edge when we are the ones often left to clean it up. Of course, teaching our children to clean up after themselves goes a long way but at the end of the day we all know that if we want the house to be truly clean we'll have to put in some man hours on it by ourselves as well.

As a mom I have to remember that cleaning up some dirt is just part of my call to holiness. I forget that sometimes. I want less work, less mess. Yet I need to start looking at things through a different lens. Allowing our children to dig in and make discoveries outside should be part of the curriculum. I know this already. I have a Bachelors' degree in Psychology and a Masters degree in Elementary Education. I've had the full range of exposure to the theories of childhood development. However most homeschooling moms know this already. You don't need big named eduactional theorists to tell you---Children need to get diry. They need to dig and climb and swing. They need to make mudpies and jump in puddles.

So my New Years Resolution is NOT what most moms are probably making it to be. Instead of vowing to keep my house cleaner and more organized this year, I am aiming to allow it to be a little messier. I want to give my children the freedom to get dirty without watching that frown creep across my face. I'm going to plan for it though. I'm going to have playclothes and playshoes and babywipes ready to go, but if a little mud gets on the carpet I'm going to clean it up with a heart for Jesus. Like St. Therese, the Little Flower, I'm going to thank Jesus for every muddy footprint plastered across my brand new Berber carpet because I know that learning to deal with some mud and dirt, for the sake of my children, is a path to holiness.