Told You So!

Dracen has taken an interest in doing laundry.  Well, at least the operating of the washer and dryer part.  He really has no interest whatsoever in the folding and putting away part. We got those front loading Whirlpool energy savers in red over the summer and he finds them extremely fascinating and I have to admit, they are pretty smart what with their fancy buttons and sounds and all.  


Sunday afternoon he and his brother went outside, found a mud hole in the woods, and came home covered and caked in mud from head to toe.  There was so much mud that the clothes had to be hosed down before they could even be placed in the shiny, red washer.


Dracen decided that it was high time for him to learn to wash his own clothes.  He's only eight but I was not about to discourage anything that could mean less housework for me so I told him to wait because I had another load going.  In the meantime I took a bath and when I came out he proudly informed me that he had started the wash on his own...  


"But Dracen, I told  you to wait for me to help you!"  I said.  "What cycle did you put it on?"  He twisted up his mouth, thought for a minute and answered, "Umm...the one that starts with a D."  

"Delicate?"  I asked.  "You put them on Delicate? See, this is why I told you to wait for me because those clothes were really dirty and needed to be put on something like Heavy Duty. Now we will have to rewash them once they are done."  


He assured me (because, you know, he's 8 and full of knowledge, wisdom and life experience) that those clothes would come out clean.  And yes, he did put the detergent in the right place.  He has been watching and learning apparently. 


Somewhere between that conversation and bedtime though he got preoccupied and distracted by something else and forgot about his clothes in the washer.  He wanted to know, as I was putting him to bed, if I'd bring the clothes in his room when they were finished but I informed him they would probably not be done for awhile because I'd most likely have to rewash them.  


But of course I got busy watching the drama unfold with the desperate housewives on Wisteria Lane and the Science teacher turned meth cook on Breaking Bad doing other important things around the house and forgot about the laundry until much later.


Before I went to bed I opened up the washer and lo and behold, I was proven wrong by a third grader because the mud was no more.  They were clean, y'all.  And this meant that mama was gonna have to eat her words.


So I lied to him the next morning and told him they were not clean at all and had to be rewashed on the Heavy Duty cycle.  


Oh relax, I'm not nearly that diabolical.  


Though when I woke him up yesterday morning that was, indeed, the first thing on his mind.  And of course I got what I knew was coming...


"I told you, Mom! I told you so!"


"Just get up and get dressed, Dracen."  


Last night he wanted to know how to operate the dryer because he had washed another load on Normal this time.  "Where do you put the stuff?"  he wanted to know.  "What stuff?", I asked, as I was busy fixing supper. 


He was under the impression the laundry detergent also went into the dryer which was such a comforting relief for my mom ego. "No baby", I giggled, "you don't put that in the dryer but you can put one of those fabric softener sheets in".  


"Ohhh yeah" he replied.  "Now I remember. I've got this, Mom, I've got this."  


And I think he does.   


Now if I can just get him interested in the other 67,893 household chores around here, I'll have it made...


But that would be very bad news for my mom ego.


And besides, he's really busy right now trying to keep up with the demands of his career third grade reading and math.