Mr. Clean - Age 3

For anyone that knows our little man, he is a very sweet and kind hearted kid. He has a wonderful trait in him that will be useful, hoping he holds onto it, in the future. He loves going around the house to find things that he can clean all by himself. Yesterday was one of those days...

Earlier in the day I found him in the bathtub with a Clorox wipe trying to clean up after one of his messier/dirtier baths. When I found him he was singing a song to himself with toilet paper in one hand and a Clorox wipe in the other. What worried me is that I saw him playing with some of the chemical sprays/cleaners we use around the house. After we cleaned the bathroom up I told him that he couldn't use those cleaners because it could affect him in negative ways and do him harm. That sunk in... for the next five minutes. *sigh* What do you do with a self-propelled three year old trying to do his best to help clean up around the house?

For the next few hours he was appeased by hanging out with his mom, dad and dingy dog. We watched television and played around finding ways to keep each other constantly entertained. Constant wasn't the right word after a while. Caleb grew tired and went to watch Caillou on the computer and, later, sneakily snuck up the stairs to wreck havoc on the house again... unbeknownst to us.

Suddenly Katie calls from upstairs as I hear a child running down the hall with the loud *thump thump* that his feet make when he's off in a huge hurry. What I found next didn't make me too happy but I still find him the biggest sweetheart for doing his best, with his know how, to clean up. He had opened one of the spray bottles, Carpet Resolve for Pet Stains, and tried cleaning the stairs. Before he used it it was nearly full. When I got hold of it the bottle was completely empty and I felt like I was walking through the best smelling swampland in the world. The stairwell and upstairs smelled great. The only problem was taking the Bissell to the carpet and cleaning up the spilled contents for the next 15 or so minutes while Caleb and mommy had a talk at the top of the stairs. There was a huge puddle of spilled content on every step that I had to clean up. Good times. What made it all memorable is what Caleb said to his mommy before she called me to let me know what had happened.

Katie saw what Caleb was doing when she went up the stairs and said, "Caleb, what are you doing?" Remembering the earlier conversation between himself and daddy his eyes opened wide, he dropped the empty spray bottle and as he ran into the nursery to hide he was heard saying...

"I have to go hide now!"

What a little goober. I hope these cleaning tendencies continue on as he gets older. He'll be a great asset around the house... but he's a great asset even now too. =)