My Daughter, The Slob

Capricorns are supposed to be efficient, responsible, goal-oriented, steadfast, and ORGANIZED. My ten year old daughter is a Capricorn, she is none of these. I keep hoping they will come in time. But in her case, it is not looking good.

I love this kid more than anything and will even go as far as to say she's my favorite (so I tell them ALL that, big deal). But she has got to be the biggest slob I know. She always has been. When she first started eating, and because she was my first, all the books said to let her use her hands, explore the food, touch, taste, sample, understand it. Are you kidding me?? I did not make this mistake with the other four. To this day, you can find Grace ANYWHERE! There is ALWAYS a pile of food where she made a sandwich, ate the sandwich, left the sandwich, wandered with the sandwich, and so on. This theory applies not only to food with her, but everything she owns or touches. If she gets a glass of milk, there is milk all down the front of the cupboard, the cap on another counter, milk jug on the table, and the glass who knows where. She unknowingly creates a scavenger hunt for me to find things before they rot. And believe me, that has happened.

It's not just the food issue that sets me off, but it's homework, clothes, shoes, hats, mittens, coats, toys, game pieces, literally everything she puts her hands on. It would be different if she had her own whacked out filing system for these things, but she doesn't. She has no clue where anything is or will blame one of the others for touching it. It's a vicious cycle with her.

I am always the first to say what goes around comes around. My mother right now is having a field day with this saying. "Julie, you used to be so bad I had to shut your door. I just couldn't stand the mess." I, being a Capricorn myself, find this very difficult to believe! Preposterous really. Granted, I used to hate to make my bed, but everything else in my room was right where it was supposed to be. I didn't leave stuff out, I didn't leave food to rot, I didn't leave a survival trail of crumbs, I didn't lose my homework or clothes or toys, I put my stuff away. I question my mothers recollection of many things. To her I'm sure an unmade bed made for a disastrous room. But to say I was a slob just doesn't make ANY sense.

To this day, I live by the words, "Everything has a place, everything in it's place". I have to with five kids. When people come in my house they wonder if I really have kids. It's clean, things are put away, beds are made, etc. I have absolutely no qualms about throwing ANYTHING out. My neighbor once looked at my pile of trash and asked, "do you have anything left in your house?" Not much. Clutter makes me crazy. My daughter makes me crazy. I can only hold out hope that one day she will out grow this and become a true Goat like the rest of us.