Oh dear God what has happened to my house?!  I think it’s called “my child is home from school.”  I could not believe the state her playroom was in.  Little pieces of Lord knows what were everywhere!!  I walked in, took one look around, and wanted to give up and go straight to bed.  Before I had a child, I always thought mine would be the house they’d come to.  I have a new iMac that was not inexpensive which some kid cracked within MILLISECONDS of coming in to play.  I especially love that his Dad covered it up and I did not discover it until later.  That’s when I realized once again our child was actually very good and has not touched anything she wasn’t supposed to.  I’ll never forget her third birthday (the last in our home) when a little boy broke a piece of Native American art whose artist’s work is in the Smithsonian.  The mother asked if “it was worth much” and when I looked horrified she asked how I managed to keep “nice” things out.  “Nice” and “priceless” are quite divergent.  But at least it taught me just how good my little girl really was.  As I write and I’m thinking this through I realize she was simply playing with her own things in her playroom.  The rest of our house remains intact.  Sometimes toys spill over from her room to the loft and I ask her to please keep certain things in specific areas.  So for instance her kitchen things need to stay in her kitchen; outside toys like bubbles stay on the porch, and she has a designated table for coloring, etc.  This room was the result of me not reminding her to put things away for several days as I have been really sick.  I came across a quote from the comedienne Phyllis Diller which I thought was apt:  “Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.”  Thankfully my karate kid girl is learning the value of discipline and responsibility.  I had her put everything away under my guidance of restored order.  I want her to be free to play … I just don’t want to see any more Play-Doh tornadoes; the wolfies have had rainbow-colored poop for days.  We’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.