washing dishes, boy style

It's often difficult for me to the dishes these days. Monkey Boy always drags a chair over to the sink and tries to 'help' me wash- meaning he gets in the way, splashes yucky dishwater all over and spills soap on the floor.

Or he 'helps' me load the dishwasher by taking out everything that I put in. Some days loading the dishwasher is an exercise in how fast I can throw in the dishes and slam the door shut before he comes looking for dirty steak knives.

Fun times, I tell ya!

Yesterday I was doing the dishes and hit upon a solution to keep him entertained while I cleaned. I poured some water and suds into a big plastic bin, put it on some towels in the middle of the kitchen floor and gave both the boys some plastic dishes and sponges. I figured that the towels would catch most of the overspill (and we have tile floors besides).

The boys were excited to play 'dishwashing' and I congratulated myself on my quick thinking as I leisurely cleaned the real dirty dishes. Then I looked over and saw this:

Oh well, I thought, at least he won't need a bath today!