My Little Slave Driver

I have read many books and articles commenting on the funny quirks of toddlers. Connor hadn't demonstrated anything particularly strange or noteworthy until recently. For about a month now he has become insistent about several things. First, no doors can be left open. Connor will go around closing all the doors in the house. If he sees you open the pantry door, pull out an item and then leave the door open, he will fuss at you until you close the door.

My mom has a tendency to kick off her shoes all over the house. Connor finds them and fusses at her until she picks them up, especially if they're left in our living room. If she just throws them in her bedroom, Connor finds them and points and fusses at her until she picks them up and puts them in their proper spot in the closet!

Connor also loves to point out any speck of dirt or anything on the floor that needs to be cleaned up. He will point at it and blabber at me in his own language, but it's obvious by his tone that he is ordering me to clean up!

Obviously I have to clean every day. I spot clean the kitchen floor a dozen times simply because Connor always manages to spill something. We have tile throughout the kitchen, hall and bathrooms and it is a beige marble type of color. This makes streaks of dirt or anything brown or beige blend in. I recently cleaned up every spot on the kitchen floor only to have Connor point at the marble design, fussing at me to make it spotless. Here is a video. Now you can all see how I'm treated around here! :)



I wish I had a video of Connor in the bathroom. I'm ashamed to admit this, but cleaning the bathroom floor is always last on my list because I hate it. Behind the toilet where all the hair and dust tends to stick and get wet and clumpy? Ew. I'd rather clean my cats' litter box! Anyway, Connor tends to follow me into the bathroom whenever I am in there. He goes over to the toilet and points at the floor and gives me his lecture. I always promise to clean it (and it really is never that bad), but somehow at the end of the day after cleaning and cooking and tending to Connor, I rarely make it into the bathroom. One day I had enough of being yelled at by my tiny son. I scrubbed every inch of that bathroom and had Connor go inspect it. And he definitely inspected! He looked behind the toilet, in the bath tub and on the counters. Then he ran out without fussing at me once. So I guess I passed inspection! :)

Nick often comments to me that he hopes Connor doesn't turn OCD or into a crazy neat nic. I kind of doubt that since Connor has no problem with his toys strewn all over the living room and backyard and he loves nothing more than getting covered in mud. He's either bossy and wants to be my slave driver or is just being a quirky toddler. Either way, it's been very amusing!