Okay, sometimes it is - but it's usually 10pm or beyond - after we've put Liam and Morgan to bed, and have managed to retain just enough energy to put the day's toys back in their designated drawers and containers. We don't get to enjoy the cleanliness for long - because, at that point, we barely have what it takes to stay awake through an hour of TV and a cup of tea - but at least we can enjoy looking back down the stairs as we head up to bed, and briefly witness the entire floor uninhabited of its usual adornment of colourful toys and books. Yes, colourful toys and books are wonderful things, and I'm thankful to have them...until I feel like I've put a hard, plastic, triangluar-shaped, 'developmental toy' through the sole of my foot because I was dodging a ride-on car on one side and a Little People figurine on the other. Developmental toy, indeed. Helping me develop a limp.
Often, we simply don't have anything left in our collective tank, so we'll instead choose to stumble through the toys on the way to the kitchen, bathroom, or bed...but waking up to a living room full of toys is also exhausting - so we dig down to find the strength, sometimes having to crawl around the floor on our hands and knees to get the minutiae.
Yes, a bit of irony there.
For the last little while - don't ask me how long, exactly, because there is no room in the head of a parent of twins for such trivial information - we've incorporated the twins' help in putting the toys away, and - in a very Pavlovian manner - they respond only to the word "tidy". Asking them to "help clean up" elicits no determinable response, nor does any other way one might say, "Okay, it's about all this stuff. Can we dispose of it, perhaps?"
The word "tidy" is also not foolproof nor perfect - but it's all we've got. Sometimes, it takes a lot of coaxing and parent participation, while other times they'll go very enthusiastically into putting things away - until a particular item triggers a couple of 'fun synapses' in their cute little brains, and then it's playtime all over again.
Such was the case earlier this evening. I took these pics on the fly while Janne was upstairs getting Morgan's bed ready, so they're a tad grainy, sorry. It's from not having time to set light or anything else up properly - but at least they give you an idea of how "tidy" can sometimes go off the rails. These twins are many things, but "spur of the moment" is always among their top three.
What you see here actually went on for quite a while. Liam wanted the 'boat-which-used-to-be-a-drawer' all to himself - but every time he climbed in, Morgan followed. So, Liam would then climb out. Morgan, who had her heart set on a 'team version' of the game, would then follow Liam out - and the ritual would begin again. Honestly, it must have happened fifteen times this way - until poor Liam finally gave up and went on to something else.
...and eventually, Daddy finished the tidying.
