Friday, April 10, 2009

That's one clean rock

This story starts yesterday. Buddy has become a huge fan of getting extremely dirty/muddy while he is outside. I am talking about the kind of filth that you could scrape off his clothes when he comes in. He has all but ruined his play shoes, which I have had to wash twice this week. Yes, he has rain (actually mud) boots, but he forgets to put them on sometimes.

I need empathy people! I am doing laundry non-stop! I am at my mama's wits ends. I was the type of kid, who never got dirty. That being said, I think I am a very understanding mama. I get that he is a boy. I get that he needs to get dirty. I get that if there is a puddle within a 100 yards of our house he will end up in it. And, I try very hard not to be critical of the muddy monster that re-enters my house (except when it involved his Stride Rite sneakers...I think I have certain rights). However, the laundry is killing me. I hate doing laundry.

So, yesterday when I was washing his second outfit of the day, including his jacket. I heard a rather large clunking in my dryer. Well, I was about to go do something else...so I was in a bit of rush. I opened my dryer door and I didn't see anything unusual. I fished around on the bottom a bit, still nothing unusual. So, I decided that the clunk was probably the zipper of the jacket.

So, imagine my surprise when I unloaded the dryer this morning. (Oh don't judge me and my wrinkly clothes. . .I had a pampered chef party to go to last night and I forgot about the clothes.) Oh no not the zipper but this bigger than a large cherry tomato, now very clean rock. Buddy actually told me that it isn't just a rock..."it is a meteor rock from dinosaur times....dinosaurs must have kicked here". This explaination was followed with a "sorry, mama".


Please tell me that some of you had boys who loved, LOVED to get dirty and now they are like corporate geniuses, who are very successful in life. INSPIRE me to keep doing all of this muddy laundry. PLEASE!!!

17 comments:

Sheri Howard said...

Spray off his clothes with the hose, let them dry outside and put them on him the next day. Save one nice outfit for going to town, then washt the clothes at the end of the week? Or, go to the thrift store and buy him 5 outfits cheap, then only wash them once a week....what do I know? Good luck!

Sinta Renee said...

I raised 5 boys, 3 of my own & two stepsons. They were all in the same age group. I didn't have the puddle jumpers but I did have mountains of laundry-always. But I also had experiences like: upon opening the refrigerator seeing the worms they had collected and put in a cup so they could go fishing. Did I mention that there was no lid on it? I also found little tree frogs they had collected on a rainy day and put in the bathtub while I was at work. These are the milder adventures- you have only just begun! :0)

Terri S said...

I loved reading your post today. I raised three boys, and I could always pick my guys out of a crowd of kids because they were the dirtiest in the bunch!! Other kids played hide and seek. Mine played "hot lava" swinging on a rope over a mud puddle ... which was the hot lava, of course!! I used to swear I'd let them outside and as soon as they hit the porch, the dirt just flew on them and stuck there. My oldest had to walk 8 blocks or so to school and his teacher called me and aaked me if I could send a change of clothes in his backpack every day because he must have detoured in every puddle all the way to school and got there soaked!!

They're all grown up into responsible, productive adults now, and quite creative thinkkers, I might add!!

Carla said...

I was always the dirty one. And I loved climbing trees. I urged my 2 girls to get dirty and have fun. I didn't get lucky enough to have a boy to go fishing with. He'll get over it. :)

Pat said...

I think that I have a better ending that the oters before me. My son grew up to be a fine young man. Not a corporate genius but a very CLEAN History teacher. He does his own laundry now. He still gets muddy aftera day of hiking in the Adirondacks. There is hope!!!

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

Having a little girl is no different! Daddy and Grandpa play in dirt so will she. She loves it! Me... not so much but like you, I let her. She needs to be a kid. Even if I don't like it.

I HATE the feel of sand/dirt on me! YUCK!

So I hear what you're saying and I really have no good advice for you. And yes, that is a really clean rock.

Cheryl said...

I had a mud boy and I have some of the sweetest pictures of the mud kid with eyes peeking through the goop. It was a pain at the time but now I treasure that time. I did end up getting him a plastic rain suit that I put over his yucky play clothes and that helped and in the summer shorts and lots of mud treatments for his skin!!! Now at 29 he is a corporate type that wears a tie to work each day and has his own little mud baby who is only 8 month old...but grandma can't wait to get him in the mud pie goop!!!!

Thimbleanna said...

Hahaha! Buddy sounds like the perfect boy to me -- fun and adventurous. Enjoy it now 'cause I guarantee you, the day will come when you'll wish you could be back there cleaning up all that mud and dirt!

Carol said...

That's funny about the rock. I don't have any kids so I don't know the frustration. I do however agree with you about not liking to do the laundry, I really should get my white clothes out of the dryer.

Mary Anne Drury said...

My boys are 16 and 18 and STILL find every bit of mud, dirt, and now oil and grease that is available on the planet! They happily ride/race their dirtbikes through unbelievable MUD and DUST then come home to do the greasy, oily repairs .... I go through vats of Oxiclean and should buy stock in the company ..... as far as corporate geniuses..... we're still working on it! Enjoy.... it just gets cruddier !!!

Anonymous said...

4 girls here and let me tell you there were years where I thought I'd never see the end to the laundry pile...teen girls don't like to wear the same thing all day, and seem to think once its touched their bodies it needs to be washed :) (then I told them that their precious clothes would wear out faster with each washing. Now they all do their own...time flies
I'm thinking some grandsons someday will be very fun

StitchinByTheLake said...

In our early married days when my husband was coachin football he also chewed tobacco. After all, weren't all coaches supposed to do that? And often he would forget to empty his pockets and I would wash tobacco. Talk about yuck. Tobacco all over the clothes and in the washer tub. Double yuck! blessings, marlene

ferne said...

I wish I could confirm that he will grow up into a corporate genius, but I have 2 boys now in their 20's. One left no rock unturned and the other watched. My dirty guy is doing tile work and his clothes are always covered with grout, but he is a very creative person. My clean guy is more into computer stuff. You can never predict what will come just enjoy them and be glad that he is so curious about the world around him, and has that great imagination to boot!

Dawn said...

Ha. Maybe you've stumbled on something here. Rocks in the dryer somehow make your clothes more fluffy....okay. Maybe not.

Sorry, but I too have a son that turns into a mud-monster whenever he ventures out into the yard.....

Angela Yosten said...

LOL!!! This post is awesome! I can relate, but my boy is only two so I don't think I am much help on telling you that he became a corporate genius. LoL! Thanks for the laugh.. I needed it!

Red Geranium Cottage said...

LOLOL!! My Boo used to leave gum, money, rocks, toys, ink pens, you name it in his pockets. Especially loved those ink pens.

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