My ADHD Daughter and Constant Messiness

In our house, we find Legos in the weirdest places. I think they come to life at night when everyone’s asleep, scatter to explore every nook and cranny, and then transform back into inanimate objects at daybreak -- wherever they happen to be at the time. In the bathtub. The cat’s food dish. Down inside the garbage disposal.
Don’t believe me? Well, there is one other possible explanation for a Lego infiltration of this magnitude: Maybe Natalie, with her ADHD-fueled tendency toward random chaos-making, did something yet again.

My 13 year old, Aaron, has asked, “Mom, why...” in regards to Nat’s messes so many times that my response has evolved into a one word answer. That answer is now a running joke between the two us. It goes like this:

Aaron: “Mom, why is Smokey’s fur all wet and sticky?”

Me: “Aaron, I can answer that question in one word: Natalie.”

Aaron: “Mom, why is there tape all over the kitchen cupboards?”

Me: “Aaron, I can answer that question in one word: Natalie.”

Aaron: “Mom, why are there all different colors of puddles of water on the garage floor?”

Me: “Aaron, I can answer that question in one word: Natalie.”

And so it goes.

One day, I was cleaning up a record-setting mess in the living room. There was so much crap covering every surface, that no matter how long I kept at it, I still felt like I was getting nowhere. I grew more and more frustrated as I cleaned up UNO cards, puzzle pieces, dirty socks, crayons, and, yes, Legos.

“It never ends!” I complained to Aaron. Then, “Why in the world are there more than twenty pencils on the floor behind the couch?” I crabbed.

“Mom,” Aaron replied. “I can answer that question in one word: Natalie.”