I don't know about you, but I clean up a lot of messes.
A LOT.
As a matter of fact, usually I don't get finished cleaning one mess before my kids are well on their way to finishing up another one (or four.)
Usually I don't feel like any of this hard work (like chiseling dried Cocoa Puffs off the side of a cereal bowl or picking Nerds out from between the cracks in the hardwood floor with a toothpick) is appreciated.
Today, though... TODAY I thought I was finally vindicated! Finally! Someone noticed! Someone cared!
Jedidiah, who is 2 (he'll be three in November, but I'm not comfortable with saying "he's almost three" yet), spilled his watered-down, yet still incredibly sticky orange juice (with an obviously defective lid on it) this morning.
Did it go into his breakfast plate? Nope. Did it go onto the table in a nice round puddle? Nope. Did it go straight onto the floor? Nope.
As anyone with a "leaf" in their kitchen table knows, the ONLY appropriate place for a spill to go is right down into the crack where the leaf divides the table into sections. From this location, the spill is able to seep slowly into the mysterious netherworld of gears and crumb-infested table-parts that exists underneath the table-top. Then, once it's good and disgusting, it proceeds to cascade from the crack onto the chair underneath (yes, there is always a chair wherever the stuff chooses to come out) and then finally onto the floor below in a series of foul, crumby splatters.
It's a beautiful thing to behold, if you happen to be an ant or a salesman of multi-purpose cleaners.
Anyway, back to my vindication.
As I stood there trying to clean up the spill without bending over (I have chronic back pain, so I tend to avoid leaning over whenever possible) I heard my sweet little boy's sweet little voice say, "You a good mom."
What!? Be still, my melting heart. He loves me! He sees how hard I work to be a good mom!
I said, "Oh, thank you, my sweet boy. That is so nice to say - that I'm a good mom."
"No, Mom," he said, "You a good MOP."
Vindication cancelled. On to the next mess.