Traveling Tristan strikes AGAIN!

Our 2+ year old boy is quite a handful!  Today he has decided that he should 'wash' the dishes.  :-)  Oh joys!  ONE of my kids really WANTS to do housework...it just happens to be the one that is tinier than most of my cleaning tools.  *sigh* 

What to do?!?  I did what any sanity-preserving Mama would do: I let him 'wash' dishes!  If you decide to follow in my footsteps PLEASE learn a few lessons from my adventure.  First I should tell you what I did correctly:

• I removed all breakable and/or dangerous items from the sink area.
• I cleaned the sinks thoroughly.
• I used one side for the 'washing' by putting warm water and some dishwashing liquid.
• I provided him with plenty of dishes such as: plastic cups of various sizes, plastic straw, and large serving spoon.
• I gave him a perch that was high enough to put him within reach of the sink without being too high.
• I was never more than 3 steps away at any time during his adventure.

What will I do differently next time?  The lessons I pass on for you to learn:

• Place a water-proof mat or plastic under the perch to capture the inevitable water spillage.
• Ensure that your child is in clothing you don't mind changing immediately afterward.
• Make sure all sponges, washcloths, towels, etc are out of your child's reach (YOWZER the mess they can make with H2O!).
• Ensure that all dishwashing liquid is out of child's reach (this made for quite a fight when the bubbles went away and he decided he needed more "soap"...avoid this at all costs lest this sanity-preserving exercise was for naught).
• Remain within arms length at all times!  3 steps away turned out to be too far; my little guy decided that he had to rinse the dishes too, the perch was a tad further from the faucet requiring him to reach and scoot the chair out from under him.  Visualize with me:  nose diving toward soapy water, feet dangling in mid-air, shriek of anxiety (not sure if it was Tristan's or my shriek).  This MUST be avoided at all costs! {NOTE:  I have super-hero, cat-like reflexes;  I was able to avoid catastrophe by catching him in mid-dive :-)}

Tristan reaching to rinse the dishes...right before nose diving experience. 

Despite the mishap and mess, my sanity was most definitely preserved (for the time being), the kitchen counters/cabinets/floor are super duper clean, and my little guy was extremely happy!  Of course, now he thinks that he should do the dishes all of the time and no object is safe from being used as a 'perch' but that is life with Traveling Tristan!