James's Chores and other things

This past weekend we spent in Utah with Doug's parents and brother. It was supposed to be a little vacation, but it ended up being an "workcation" according to Doug. We drove down Saturday morning, we had to be at our condo at 12 to meet the tenant and do a walk through. We got there at 11:30 and she was still moving out. James was happy to be out of the car and just ran around while we walked around assessing all the damage. After walking around for a few minutes I didn't really want James playing there. I can't believe how disgusting they let everything get in only 3 months! They let their dog pee everywhere and their kids spilled stuff all over. So while James took a nap we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. On Saturday we only got the basement done, which was the worst of it all and finished the cleaning on Sunday. It took 5 of us about 9 hours to clean it all. On Monday the carpet cleaners came and now it looks great! We were very lucky to have Doug's parents there to help or I think we would still be cleaning.
James has also become very helpful around the house. He loves to help me do everything and even though is slows me down I love the help. These are his chores:

• Laundry--He likes to put the clothes in the washing machine, then I put them on the dryer door for him and he pushes them in the dryer.
• Turning off the Lights--He can do the lights in the kitchen himself because the switch is lower then everywhere else, but he still tries to do the other lights.
• Feeding Loa--This morning he wanted to give Loa her food. He put it in the wrong bowl so she had soup for breakfast!
• Garbage--All we have to do is say 'garbage' and hand him something and he puts it in the trash. Of course we have to watch carefully because he likes to put everything in the garbage. After I get him dressed in the morning and he throws his diaper away he comes back for his PJ's and tries to put those in the garbage. I am trying to teach him 'laundry basket'.
• Dishes--Usually he only helps with the silverware, but sometimes he likes to do it all!