I used to do laundry on Saturday and Sunday, because I used to work during the week. After I started staying home, I still did laundry on the weekends, so Benjamin could help me fold and put things away. The trouble was, I dreaded it. The house would be full of piles of laundry all weekend long. We would be trying to relax and enjoy the weekend, and it would be bogged down with dirty towels and clean underwear and sheets and suddenly, loads extra of baby clothes, my clothes (which I used to wash rarely, that is, until I started lactating), and cloth diapers.
The laundry was a never-ending exhausting chore that seemed to drain my energy and motivation all weekend long.
Then I had a eureka. Monday mornings Benjamin goes back to work. It's just me and Jax again. And I'm ready to get the house in order after a busy weekend. I FEEL MOTIVATED TO CLEAN on Mondays. Motivated to tidy my house, and amazingly enough, do laundry. So we switched to Monday laundry days. The putting away part tends to bleed over into Tuesdays a bit, but it definitely all gets washed on Monday. I like this so much better. In fact, I might even be excited to do laundry now. It's getting a fresh start on the week with clean-smelling clothes and plenty to wear.
I try to wash cloth diapers twice during the week, NOT on Mondays, because they take three load cycles, which is a long time.
The other benefit to doing laundry when Benjamin is at work is none of my clothes get ruined.
I am determined that when my son/s grow up and leave my home, they will be laundry experts. I'll never forget the guys in college who kept buying clothes instead of cleaning them, because they didn't know how.
My sister Priscilla told me a great story along these lines...she was in the basement of her dorm where the laundry machines are. She overheard two guys talking, one was expressing his frustration that no matter how many times he ran the dryer through its cycle, his clothes were still wet. He had tried switching dryers several times in case one was broken. He was going through quarters like there was no tomorrow, and still... wet clothes. She peeked over to see what the problem could be, giggled to herself, and offered to help the guys out. In the single dryer he was using, were probably four loads of clothes, shoved and crammed in until you couldn't possibly one more sock or boxer. She gave him a dryer education, and wished him the best.
Benjamin can do laundry reasonably well, so congrats to his mom for that (thanks, Rose). In fact, he was known to do other guys' laundry (ahem old roommate) in college, when their dorm floors were so full of it you couldn't really walk anymore. He's only ruined my clothes by forgetfulness (ink pens in the wash, gum in the wash, wool sweaters or rayon blouses in the dryer, etc.).
I understand the mentality that guys don't do much housework, so moms don't teach them much. The generations are changing, and the sons of my generation will (I hope) be doing more housework and the daughters will (I hope) be taking better care of their cars (not running it until the oil was dry like I did with my first car). But I'm just wondering what our grandparents and parents thought their sons were going to do if they ever lived on their own before getting married?
Jax is already helping with the laundry in fact. He sorts (or unsorts) my piles, helps unload the washing machine (onto the floor), and (un) folds the stacks I'm folding. See? He's an expert already.
Thanks to Benjamin's mom, Rose, as well, for the adorable outfit and boots Jax is wearing. We're in for a few more chilly days so out came the fleece and vests. Everything he's wearing is size 18-months. You can tell it's a bit roomy, but still fits. Crazy.
He tried to reach the door handle this morning, and was only an inch away. I'm guessing by the time he's a year old he'll be able to open the doors (we have the long lever handles that are easy for kids to pull, not the traditional round knob handles). The adventures just keep rolling through.
