I became one of "those" moms

Ok, so this is just a little note I had to record for myself. Today I realized that I had become one of "those" moms. You know, the kind that only allow their kids to play with one toy at a time, and must put it back before they can get another one out; the kind who's kids wear bibs until they're 5 (kate gosselyn--How do you get a 5 year old to wear a bib? my 14 month old won't); the kind that have white furniture--and it's still white . . . You know a "clean house mom". Having grown up in a family that revered creative messiness . . .to the EXTREME. Only those of you who remember my mother's car as the "jelly mobile"--the texture of the seats when you sat down--will really understand what I mean by extreme. But, in my adulthood, I have come to realize that I am much more at home in order. I understand the idea of putting away toys as you play, having concrete curbing, and white couches (as long as they're slip covers that can be bleached!) But still, I inadvertently put myself in the creative-messy category out of habit.

But today, I realized I had become a "clean house" mom. I hadn't allowed my kids to play downstairs in weeks simply because I couldn't STAND the thought of having to pick up the toys. Understand, downstairs is the place where the IKEA bins filled with itsy-bitsy toys are kept--AND, James' favorite activity it to sit in the middle and dump EVERY SINGLE BIN OUT. So, without realizing it, I had moved the kids upstairs to play everyday. Now, I'm not really a clean house mom. I barely do enough to keep the status quo. But I aspire to be a clean house mom. Maybe we should just call this whole avoidance of mess a survival mechanism by a desperate mom.