Today is Sunday.

It’s a “home day” (what my girls call a day when one does not have to go somewhere right off). It’s also a day that we do a number of chores around the house. Here’s a list of what’s on tap for today:

—NiNi (3 yrs old) gets to dust, help water the plants, clean up her “kitchen” (she has a small kid-sized kitchen that sits in the corner of the main one), help put away her laundry and help make her bed.

—SiSi (5 yrs old) gets to vacuum, clean up her “craft area” (this is a repository for half-finished projects, and foreshadows an unhealthy behaviour in adulthood), help put away her laundry and help make her bed.

—Mama primarily gets to supervise NiNi and work in the kitchen and the kids’ bedroom.

—Papa primarily gets to supervise SiSi, start the laundry train and work in the living and dining rooms.

Please note the wording of the paragraphs above. They read “gets to”. We’ve been trying to instill a positive attitude in our kids about chores by considering them privileges and the effect has been decidedly encouraging. They don’t jump for joy at the thought of doing these things, to be sure, but neither do they run from the room sniveling when it comes time to do them. A middle ground where they will actively participate in the routine is perfectly acceptable at this point. Hopefully, it’ll make our lives easier in the short term while setting the stage for a matter-of-fact understanding of housekeeping that will serve them very well as they grow up.

We also have a couple of special tasks on today’s list:

—Get the holiday decorations down and put away in the attic. (The wise men have gone home already!)
—Finish changing light bulbs. (Why is it that, when one goes, 5 go??)
—Flush the furnaces. (This gets done every week during the winter)
—Put the coffee table back under the stairs (It’s a big coffee table in a small living room)

If all goes well, most of this will be done by naptime. I’ll reward myself today with a nice, long workout session on the weight bench in my office. I’ll need to work off the incredibly delicious scone I had for breakfast that Wifeness made. She makes kickass scones!