sweeping.

as a kid, i remember my mom waking up and then sweeping first thing. perhaps, brennen gets that from her. he woke up the other day and grabbed the broom while i was making our breakfast. i had apparently spilled a few coffee grounds from the night before while making my cold brew for the next day. he noticed.

for a moment, he stopped and said, "i caaaan't," but then he went right back to it. i love his heart. i think he's been seeing his brothers do their chores everyday, and decided he could do this on his own like they do.

what we do around here is the boys have a morning and afternoon list, like wake up, make bed, eat, dress, teeth and hair, clean up breakfast stuffs. then they have to read and play outside, pick up, do their summer bridge workbook, and do their three chosen chores for the month. and they rotate chores monthly. and because i'm a no fun mom, they get 2 hours of screen time, the first hour is educational apps, the second is their choice. the past two months, each of the boys have had sweeping as a chore. so i know this little man has watched them sweep many times. i love that he saw something in the floor and just went to it.

you guys, i can also tell he's hit a growth spurt recently. he's always been my skinny kid, but lately, he seems to have gotten taller and leaner. and y'all, let me tell you, this kid suddenly starting talking like he is six. i mean... he was my earliest talker, but all of sudden, he's saying things in such a way that make him seem so much older than his two years ten months. this just started a few days ago and really came out of nowhere. giant sentences from such a little boy kind of just stop you in your tracks and make you stare in disbelief.

it's my opinion that it's important for kids to have chores, to learn to take care of things on their own, even the big things like sweeping and mopping and laundry. so my boys do those things, because it's also my opinion that part of my job is to teach them how to care for themselves once their grown. brennen sweeping on his own, a mess that wasn't his no less, kind of makes me think that perhaps i'm doing a little bit right afterall.