If your house is anything like mine, clean up time is everyone’s least favorite time. The problem in my house is our youngest, Emmett…well it’s actually more like his desire to undo everything his brothers do that is the problem.
What typically happens is this, Elliott and Gavin will clean up their rooms, carefully filling their respective toys boxes with the toys that are scattered across the floors of their bedrooms. Then from somewhere in the house, Emmett senses that they are just about finished cleaning up and like a lion on the African Savanna, the hunt is on.
This is how the events play out.
Emmett will stealthily stalk his prey, much the same way the lion stalks a gazelle. He very carefully makes his way up the stairs and begins plotting his approach. Like the lion, Emmett doesn’t want to alarm his prey. If he spooks them, he knows they will become aware of his presence and the hunt will end prematurely….and what fun would that be…right?
At the moment of his choosing, he will very calmly walk into the room, careful to not make any sudden moves, as that would raise suspicion.
Imagine a lion, slowly walking down to the waterhole to get a drink. Paying no attention to the gazelle nearby, the lion gets a drink of water. The goal is to lure the gazelle into a false sense of security. By appearing uninterested, the lion is able to get within striking distance.
It works and the gazelle is thinking, hey, it’s cool, nothing to worry about here. This false sense of security will be its eventual downfall.
Emmett uses this very same technique in order to ensure he catches his brothers unaware. He will walk about the room and appear uninterested in his target. After a short while, they will drop their guard and Emmett can move in for the kill.
Emmett, like the lion at the waterhole, is preparing to make his move. He waits until he’s no longer perceived him as a threat. His prey will drop their guard and become complacent. Then snap…..Emmett springs into action and much like the gazelle, his brothers are caught off guard. Before they even know what happened, it’s all over.
Oh my..the utter carnage.
The toy box has been flipped, it never stood a chance. Toys are scattered everywhere and Emmett has this satisfied grin on his face. You know the one.. That cute but devious grin that only the most mischievous of children can pull off.
While Gavin and Elliott fared much better than our friend the gazelle, the are quite upset and rightfully so. However, they both handle it quite differently.
Gavin gets really frustrated but either never learns or never gives up…I’m not sure which. He will pick all the toys back up and Emmett will dump everything out again. This chain of events will be repeated over and over again until we intervene or Emmett no longer finds it amusing. We have explained to Gavin that if he leaves it, we will clean it up for him and make Emmett help. He already cleaned it up once so he shouldn’t have to do it again. Sigh…unfortunately, he never seems to catch on and this will play out almost every single time.
Elliott on the other hand, is a quick study. He employs more of the, screw it, I already picked it up once, kind of approach. It seems to serve him well. With no reaction, Emmett loses interest and Elliott gets help cleaning up the mess.
These events are a constant in the Lost and Tired household and much like the great circle of life, play out over and over, without fail.
Tonight was no exception.
Is it wrong though, that tonight I found myself doing the Animal Planet play by play as these events unfolded? You know, the one that goes like this, the lion quietly stalks the unsuspecting gazelle, careful not to….. blah, blah, blah. Only in this case it was something like this, Emmett quietly creeps up the stairs towards his unsuspecting brothers…. It just kinda breaks up the monotony of it all. Do you know what I mean?
It gets a bit stale, when it plays out the same way each and every time. Sometimes I find myself having to do something like this in order to keep from losing what’s left of my sanity. I’m already running on fumes and if I can manage to squeeze in a bit of humor, so be it…..
– Lost and Tired
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