I normally try to do all of our laundry on Mondays.  I’d rather set aside a day and just get it done than drag it out for the rest of the week.  As I was doing laundry, I started thinking about the next 20 years… of laundry.  Seriously.  Not fun thoughts.  Especially since we’d love to have more babies… and that means more laundry.

Then I started thinking about how Clara LOVES to help around the house.  She wants so badly to be a mamma.  One day as she blew on a wish (what she calls dandelions) I heard her say, “I wish I could be a mamma right now!”  Around the house, she often cheerfully asks me, “Mamma, is there anything I can do to help you?  Do you have a job for me?”  She wants to be a mamma, and she knows that mammas work, so she wants to help!

So, of course, being the sweetly devious mamma that I am, I found a new job for her.  Today, my sweet girls started doing their own laundry.  So, now the next 20 years of laundry aren’t looking so bad.  ;)

First, they emptied their laundry basket and carried all of the clothes to the floor of the laundry room, where they dumped them.

Then, they picked up one item at a time and made sure it was turned right-side-out, and checked for stains.  They handed stained items to me and I stain treated them.

After checking and stain treating items, they put each item in the washer.  I started the washer.

When the clothes were clean, the girls transferred all of the clothes to the dryer on their own while I worked on other chores.

Once the clothes were dry, they helped me sort them, and I started teaching them how to hang shirts and dresses on hangers.  Then, I put the clothes away.

At this point, I’m still very involved in the process, but they’re only 2 and 3 years old right now. Who know, maybe in a year they’ll be doing it completely on their own. Can you imagine that???  Heaven!