Speed Chores

Kendra has decided that her help is needed when Mommy empties the dishwasher. As soon as she hears the clanging of plates and pots and pans, she drops whatever she is doing and hurries to my aid.

This, of course, makes things difficult for me. Because about half the things in the dishwasher are either breakable or sharp. So every time I empty the dishwasher, I find myself frantically racing against when I will hear the patter of little helpful feet. I'm getting it down to quite the science, these days. The first thing I do is pull out all the knives and practically throw them into their holder. Then I grab the plates out in stacks. And by then Kendra has usually arrived.

She always begins with what's left of the silverware, and carefully hands me each piece one at a time. I grab them from her as fast as I can-- mostly so they won't get dropped on the floor, but also trying not to think about where her hands may have been-- and murmur "Thank you, Kendra," the entire time. She responds by saying, "Tank oo" right back at me, so we have a very polite time of it.

Once the silverware is done, I can relax a bit. Everything else is either too heavy or too high up for her to reach very easily, and what she can reach are mostly plastic bowls that she can't hurt. I race around putting things away while placing everything she hands me carefully on the counter to be put away next. And then when we're done, Kendra gets to push the racks back inside and close the dishwasher door.

We always finish in five minutes or less. And I'm exhausted every time.