neat freak

Have I mentioned Bruce is a neat freak? He is. Clutter really stresses him out. The first thing he does when he comes home from work is start picking up toys and other various materials that may be littering our living space. And he has spawned a twin in B. It's almost frightening. No, let me clarify. It's downright jacked up.

The other morning I was really sick. I couldn't really get out of bed, and since it is Spring Break for the boys, Bruce was out of town, and my maid had the week off, I told B that I needed him to take over for a while. Well, he did. He got breakfast for the little ones, played games, turned on movies. Then it was time for us to go somewhere and he nearly flipped out.

While I was busy trying to wash my face and clothe my sickly body in appropriate attire for the public, he came rushing in to the bathroom (I have forgotten what it is like to go to the bathroom alone and uninterrupted.) "Mom!" he yelled. "This house is a disaster! We can't go anywhere until this place is cleaned up!" Then under his breath, he murmured, "Man, I wish Elisa was here." Elisa is our maid, by the way. Then he proceeded to go on a cleaning rampage, yelling manically at his brother and sister to kick into gear and help him out. He was frightening me. He was frightening his siblings. He was visibily distraught as he picked up discarded Memory game cards in my bedroom, toys strewn around the living room floor, throw pillows that had been placed strategically on the ground by probably L. I thought about videotaping him to show Bruce later and lecture about how he did this to his firstborn son. But again, I was sick. It was an effort to put on a shirt, you know what I'm saying?

B is a good kid. Sometimes he scares us. But mostly we don't know what we'd do without him.