52-Crumb Pick Up

Recently, T Junior invented a new game. The object is to smash as many Goldfish as you can with the bottom of your sippy cup before Mom can take it away from you.

I win!

Maybe I should patent it.

Anyway, T Junior loves to make a mess of mealtime.

When he's had enough, he drops handfuls of food over the side of his highchair. And, he says, "Uh-uh, no-no," as he does it.

I'm normally not there to "catch" it. I'm ususally doing the dishes -- breakfast and dinner -- because he actually eats more when I don't sit with him (and because when he's not in his chair, he likes to "help" me with the dishwasher).

Thump.

There went a chunk of banana.

"T Junior, leave your food on your tray."

"Uh, oh!"

Bang!

And, there went the plate with cottage cheese on it. Awesome.

The other day, I was on my hands and knees trying to pick up hundreds of sticky curds off the linoleum under my son's chair. I decided cottage cheese is the worst food to clean up. Paper towels just push it around and it leaves a dairy snail trail.

But then, last night, as I was cleaning up squished pieces of broccoli, I decided that's the worst one. All the tiny dark green balls pop off the florets and scatter everywhere. A damp wash cloth and the Swiffer Wet Jet can't even grab those. The only thing that works is dog tongue.

But the best part of cleaning up after a toddler who's just finished eating is when you are hunched over trying to pinch little blobs of slimy "nana" and you feel someone petting you on the top of your head.

I wonder if spaghetti sauce is good for the scalp?

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What is your least favorite food to clean up?