Doubly Organized

Today was busy at the house; my children got their Christmas present delivered at nine o’clock this morning.   My daughter was interested in the delivery and set up of the bunk beds.   My son had decided he’d like to watch Power Rangers on his iPad and avoided the mess in the room until it was all set up.

My daughter’s bed on the bottom is a full and my son’s is a twin on the top.   Instead of a ladder, there are stairs on the side with a drawer under each of steps they can store things in.   They both went to bed tonight in “envelopes” otherwise known as a made bed.   Up until now they’ve been sleeping with a blanket as opposed to a sheet and comforter tucked in at the bottom.    They both happily went to bed tonight.   That may have been due to the whole Christmas thing in the morning, but either way, I think they’re happy with the new sleeping situation.

I’d been working on going through all the toys in the house.  Toys and junk from birthday party favors, craft projects, items from school, etc., accumulate over time.   Things move around and toys with multiple parts get separated.    I’d gotten part-way through my organization/reduction/purging process and today I decided I needed to get it completed.

This involved removing a significant portion of the toys and other items from the areas in which the children played.   Some of the things will be given to younger children, others will be put away for now and brought back out in a few months.    The plan was to get through everything of theirs and put things into the “back closet” (as I call it) which is an unfinished storage area off the children’s bedroom.

I found a partner in my mother today and had a great time working with her.   She taught me how to organize, but we haven’t had a chance to work together on a process in a long time.   She and I went through everything and had an enjoyable time seeing the rooms cleaner and more organized.  

We have the back closet to finish now, making final decisions on what stays and what goes.    Cleaning and purging is always a cathartic activity for me.

The Big Boy Update:  My son’s ear infection was bothering him a lot before my mother- and father-in-law got him some antibiotic.   He thought he’d figured out how to solve the problem at one point and told them, “I must have a pimple in my ear.  Just take the tweezers and pull it out.”

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has been pretending she’s a dog.   Today she wanted to be friends with our old, small dog.   Our dog is very wary of the children and wasn’t so sure she wanted to be friends with my daughter the dog but she played along without growling.    It was funny to watch my daughter bark while on all fours, trying to make friends with the dog.