Today (Thursday) is laundry day. Well, one of my three laundry days during the week.
I've been loving this unseasonably, record-breaking warm weather we've been having. To say I've felt slightly more depressed this past winter than usual would be an understatement.
Warm weather has so many perks, especially when having young children and ESPECIALLY when one has special needs...spending time outside, going for walks, letting Ella drive her power chair, going places without bundling the kids in jackets, and the list goes on and on.
If there is ONE downside to the warm weather, it's the dirt. Come springtime, I always forget how dirty the house gets from the kids playing outside.
They track it in on their shoes (even when they take their shoes off AT THE DOOR, it still seems to follow their little feet), it comes in on their clothes, and it even falls off their hair.
So back to laundry day. I've always gotten mad when folding the kids' clothes and they're stained with grass and dirt. Michael always reminds me, "They're kids. That's what they do. They get dirty." But still. It's always bothered me when they feel the need to literally roll around outside.
But lately, as I've been doing laundry over the past few months, I've been noticing that as Ava and Henry's clothes get dirtier over time, Ella's remain the same. Exactly the same. Almost as if they've never been worn.
And it breaks my heart.
Here is a pair of socks that I took out of the laundry today. I bought them for Ella when she got her AFOs (leg braces) back in September (almost SEVEN months ago). They still look brand new. I couldn't even tell you how many pairs of socks Ava and Henry have gone through in that same amount of time.
Now I'm no longer upset when the kids get their clothes dirty. I just wish Ella could get hers dirty right along with them.
