Suddenly, out of nowhere just a little while ago, Lilly came up to me and told me that she'd like to wash the dishes to earn some money!
Shocked, of course, I said SURE!!! Lilly's never washed the dishes before. I've never actually expected her to do any chores, since her ADHD makes it too difficult to deal with, for both her and me.
But since it was totally her idea, I told her if she would do the dishes (and do them good), I would give her $1, and asked her if that sounded like a good deal to her. She smiled really big and said yes. So off she went to the kitchen, and with a little bit of help and guidance from me and Jamie to get her started, she began her chore. Moments later, my favorite coffee mug got dropped and busted on the floor (I'm pretty sure it was Jamie's fault, of course), and I had to pretend like it was OK (which, it really is OK, I mean it's not the end of the world). Lilly cried for a while about it because she liked that mug too since it had cartoon kitty cats all over it. But she finally dried up when I told her it was fine, and that her and Daddy could get me a new mug for Mother's Day. Jamie had thrown the broken pieces of the mug in the trash, but Lilly dug them out, wanting to glue them back together again. Sheesh.
Anyway, after the mug-busting fiasco, Lilly finally calmed down and resumed washing the dishes. I just went back to the living room and let her do it all by herself. Finally, she said she was done, and I went to inspect. She actually seemed to do a decent job! (I wasn't about to criticize her first attempt at doing a chore -- it might have turned her off of doing any more chores in the future)! She hadn't noticed that there were a few more dirty pans that were sitting on the countertop next to the sink, and I slid them closer for her to do. After she finished doing those, then she wanted to dry the dishes and put them away. And that's what she's still in the middle of doing now. She's had to ask where several things needed to be put back, but that was fine.
I wanted to take a picture of Lilly doing the dishes, but she didn't really want me to, so I have no proof. Hopefully all of this is not a dream...LOL!
Lilly completely finished washing, drying, and putting away the dishes just a few moments ago. I went to inspect, and everything was perfectly fine, especially for her first time doing a chore! I told her how proud I was and gave her a few big hugs, and gladly handed her over a dollar. She was proud too, and treated herself to a chocolate cookie snack thing, which I told her was OK for her to have when she asked me (to celebrate getting done with her chore and doing a good job on it).
I don't know what possessed her to actually want to do the dishes, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth! But I'm not getting my hopes up; who knows, this may be the only time that she ever does it. But maybe not...! We'll just have to wait and see...! :)
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