two pairs of hands make light work

percy is an adorable little helper much of the time. trying to do usual household tasks while a little girl is sooking or wrapped around your legs is nigh on impossible. getting her involved is the trick.
yes, putting clothes in the washing machine one by one, or cutlery out of the dishwasher and into the drawer one by one, or picking up spilled cotton tips one by one is slow labour. however, compared to not getting it done at all taking twice the time is better.

last nite percy helped me unload the dishwasher, take some clothes off the drying rack, put her nappies in the dryer, take her nappies out the dryer (i often put them thru for five minutes to soften and fluff them up; they come off the line a bit like cardboard!) wipe the table and floor after dinner spills and most interestingly feed the cats! she hasn't fed the cats before. she eagerly forked out some tinned food and then reached into the dry food bag for handful after handful. very cute. unfortunately she hasn't got the idea that the dry food could be dropped from a few centimetres above the cats' food bowls. instead she mashed her handfuls right into the tinned food. oh well, a thorough washing of hands fixed that mess.

i think we can attribute much of her helpfulness to music class. huh? yes, music class. you see, at the end of every activity or song that requires instruments or other artefacts our delightful teacher tina sings "now it's time to pack away, pack away, now it's time to pack away, pack away." percy immediately leaps up and takes the instrument, ball, scarf whatever, over to the box or bag tina has ready. she'll also take the items from the other kids in class to pack them away too. this is both a good thing and bad thing. she's the biggest in class at the moment, next term (october) she'll move to the next age group class. so she's easily capable of snatching things from little babies that can't do anything about it. most of the time she's gentle or the babies mums are already handing things to her to pack away. i have had to slow her down a few times when she's been too fast/ eager/ rough/ dedicated to packing away.

we've taken up the "pack away" refrain at home. it's working great. generally in the evenings before bath and bed routine we are all on the lounge room floor together. paul and i will start singing and packing and percy enthusiastically joins in. it's a good prompt to let her know the bedtime routine is beginning, while making a game of putting her toys and books away. we haven't had any protests or tantrums to stay playing- yet! (cross fingers)

let's hope we get years and years of cooperation and fun out of household chores. ha ha ha ha ha....