The Monster Stomp

Henry enjoyed stomping around in my big fuzzy slippers for a while yesterday, so I decided to get his monster feet out. He and Pete had a Wild Rumpus in the kitchen. He's a fan of foot apparel, this one!
Yesterday I experienced some of the ups and downs of letting a toddler help with the housework. Example #1: I was sitting outside on the patio, trying to finish a book. Henry was running happily around the yard. Next thing I knew, I looked up to see him carrying the poop scoop over to notorious spot by the bushes. "Mom? Dog. Poop." Oh dear. Helping with the poop scooping is not something I want him to do. My instincts in this area were proven correct when he tried to scoop some poop up with the scoop AND his hand.
#2: Feeding the dog. I let Henry take the scoop of dog food over to the dog dish. Exactly 2 pieces of food made it to the dish. Franklin ate the rest off the floor. This one's not so bad, when you have a vacuum-cleaner dog.
#3: Doing the laundry. This is Henry's favorite task! He is mostly helpful. I like to set the basket out in the hallway so that he has a little distance to cover. I sit and sort the colors out and make a pile for Henry. He moves that pile over to the basket. He's also quite good at loading the drier. I pull the wet clothes out, hand them to Henry and he loads the drier. It's a little slow, but worth the time. The trouble comes when he wants to help load the washer. He can't reach the washing machine, so I have to pick him up to put the clothes in. Then I have to bend down to let him grab more clothes and straighten out to put them into the washer. It's brutal on my back. But Henry really likes this part, as he gets to throw the clothes in with the water. Actually, now that I think of it, it's kind of nice to have a valid reason for why it takes me so long to get the house clean!