The LEGO bricks are still on the floor this morning. This is a compliance failure and an enforcement failure. I fetched the child’s first yogurt of the morning and issued a warning.
“LEGO that doesn’t get picked up gets sucked up into the vacuum cleaner!” It just happens. I’m not trying to do it. I just can’t guarantee that if you don’t put your LEGO back that we can get all of your LEGO back. That’s your job, son.
A gasp and then a shrug of denial. Quick, change the subject! “Daddy, can I watch some TV?”
I snag the Apple TV remote, waking the device, and notice that Disney+ is already launched. “How about some Bluey?”
The child accedes and the episode already queued up is entitled “Housework.” Karma.
As with all Bluey episodes, whether or not the episode is substantially focused on the topic in the title is kind of beside the point. To oversimplify: Bluey and Bingo are asked to participate in housecleaning—see, child, they have to do it too—and ultimately distract their parents with their silly walks which they then teach their parents. (And ultimately everyone does their fair share of housework. I try not to compare that to us.)
And then I see it, the crucial evidence: a knobby plastic brick in the vacuum cleaner Bluey’s Dad is running! (Rewind. Freeze frame.) There, kid. Consequences are everywhere.
A solemn nod. And then he dove back into his own LEGO pile.
It is time to go to school.
I will pick up the LEGO today when I do all the housecleaning by myself on my island of solitude and LEGO and who the hell knows what else is underfoot?