My go to guy

I am not the cleanest woman in the woman. Okay, when I say that, I mean my house is not the cleanest in the world...hygienically, I think I'm personally alright. :)

It's not that I don't like a clean house...usually one of the first things I notice upon entering someone else's house is how clean and organized it is. And 99 times out of 100, the house I'm entering is more organized and clean than my own. And I then start thinking, "I need to organize my house. This is nice. Oh, look how the toys are in various, easily identified boxes and containers. Where are all the piles of papers? Where to they keep all their stuff? How come I can't keep my house this clean? I'm going to clean it when I get home."

And then I get home. And that's when I get overwhelmed. It's so much that I don't see the need to clean as it is that I have no earthly idea of where to start. My organizational skills are HORRENDOUS. When I start trying to organize, I end up with a bigger mess and more piles than I started with.

My daughter is the same way I am. Her room is generally a disaster, and I don't even know how to organize it to make it better. I don't remember a time in my life when I kept my room clean...And my mom is quite the neat freak.

Andrew doesn't seem to get that there's a mess. He just ends up destroying any organization anyway...If there's a stack of neatly folded laundry, his greatest delight is in throwing them all to the ground. He really likes lining up his toy cars and then throwing them all to the ground. So that adds a little to it as well.

Chris isn't a terribly messy person. And he's actually quite a genius at cleaning and organizing efficiently. Most of the time the house is well picked up when I get home.

And then there's Jeffy. We were at a birthday party the first time he displayed his gift of cleaning. There was a huuuuuuuuuuge pile of toys that Andrew had dumped out onto the ground before he had gone on to bigger and better things. Jeffy, who had just recently learned to crawl, reached the pile of toys and played for a few minutes.

And then the magic happened. He picked up one of the toys, and then hoisted himself up and put it in the large bin it belonged in. I watched, wondering if it was a fluke. But then he picked up another one and put it in. The kid can only say two words, but he will clean up without being told.

So now Jeffy is my go to guy when it comes to cleaning up. When it's Andrew who's made the mess, and I'm holding him in my arms while he's squirming and screaming while I try to make him clean up, Jeffy crawls over and immediately starts cleaning up.

He's also an excellent vacuum cleaner when it comes to crumbs. :) This part is gross, but also reassuring as it indicates he doesn't have a sensory issue in his mouth. Jeffy is watched very closely. His willingness to clean up, his eye contact, and his desire to try new foods is very reassuring. 1 in 94 boys are diagnosed with autism. If you have a child already diagnosed, subsequent children are given a 1 in 20 chance of being diagnosed...and that's Jeffy. He has a 1 in 20 chance of being diagnosed with autism.

So anyway, perhaps my household organizational problems will soon be on the mend as Jeffy seems to have inherited his daddy's ability to put things back in a place that makes sense.

Yaaaayyy Jeffy!