in our cities in the sun

August 15, 2006 | Filed Under ordinary 

the circle of mess: encouraging one mess so that i can clean up another. today’s mess was lentils and brown rice, half used bags opened and dumped into containers. i’m quite certain that mr. rogers’ sand table has not a sprinkle of sand beneath it. were mr. rogers to go barefoot onto his patio he would not feel the sand sticking to his feet. but at our house, sensory exploration creates a tactile experience for the bottoms of your feet, as well as for your fingers and hands. half an hour was spent sweeping, brushing the stuff into the white box to save for later. that’s right, i must be insane, i saved it so that they can make another mess with it!

last week henry painted rockets and horses while jude made his standard dull purple paint color by mixing all colors all over himself, the table, the chair, the paper, all so that i could do dishes, clean the kitchen, vacuum the floor.

even the bathtub is a messmaking venue, armed with a large can of shaving cream via debbie from church they paint and smear and pile and bury and, of course, “shave” for the duration, until someone gets a glob in the eye, until someone is too tired and crabby to bathe nicely.

at least these messes are supervised, unlike the glittery make-up mess jude squirted on and ground into the rug yesterday morning, the soap messes that jude likes to make at the kitchen sink, the lotion (”goop!”) jude emptied onto his hands and smeared through his hair saturday? friday? the messes blur together. it’s too bad i can’t concentrate in the midst of disaster, that spending the day stepping barefoot on brown rice and lentils is really out of the question.

henry, armed with his very own yellow broom, tries to help by sweeping his mess with vigorous swooping motions, sending grain and legume flying.

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