Cleaning

She reluctantly cleaned her room this weekend.... every few months her orderly thinking mother insists  the task has to be done.  The girl is a keeper of anything and everything. Oh the battles that have been waged over papers, and wrappers, and broken bits of toys. She is a child who see's no purpose in putting clothes away, and seems puzzled by her momma's reaction upon seeing clean clothes  jumbled with dirty ones. She brings the outdoors in with her and there is a constant stream of rocks and sticks, leaves and found treasures that join the the rest of the chaos in her room. To navigate into her room requires focus and a steady foot. I often think a lifeline would be helpful when trying to find your way back out.  She of course is quite content amongst the disorder and piles of stuff.  There comes a time when the room just has to be cleaned... in our house it falls with the changing seasons and the need to assess just what clothing the child will need for the approaching season.... as we cleaned I heard many
"Oh! I wondered where that went"
"Why did I keep all these papers"
"This is still my favorite!"  This favorite found buried under layers of stuff.
And my favorite .... as she sorted clothes into clean and dirty piles, she smelled a sock and then said "here you smell it i can't tell"  "No thank you" was my reply "just throw it in the dirty pile "
Today after rearranging furniture and hanging a picture she received for her birthday she settled into a nook and started reading her book.  "I really like my room like this" she said when she saw me standing there.  I laughed because the girl says that every single time...it won't be long and the disorder and chaos will return.   The girl really likes that look too.