Having kids results in a house full of stuff and a lot of that stuff ends up in random places and these days, it stays there for some time. I've mentioned Sam's tendency to "drag and drop" stuff around the house and this just contributes to the random displacement of random items on a regular basis.
For example, there was a 3 in. long yellow block which ended up in the laundry room. This particular set of blocks didn't come in a special box or anything and as such, there is no special place for this particular block. So it was in the laundry room because of Sam's drag and drop. I eventually kicked it under the edge of the cabinet with the laundry sink so I couldn't really see it. It then migrated to under the washing machine and since I've spent a lot of time on the laundry room floor lately with Matthew I spotted it and retrieved it. I then moved it to little locker area where we keep our coats (3 feet away) and there it is now. It's in a much more visible spot now so it probably won't stay there as long as it was in the laundry room (maybe 6 months or so? it's been so long I have really no idea...). Although the coat locker ends up being an abyss for random stuff too, so it may just stay there for awhile too.
There's usually stuff in the upstairs hallway for awhile too. Sam's drag and drop is in full form on the second story and it's amazing the stuff he finds and leaves around and since I'm often carrying Matthew when I'm going to and fro upstairs I don't often remember to pick stuff up. And then there's the problem of the items not having a home of their own. If I don't have a home for something, where am I going to put it when I pick it up? So it remains in the hallway, or bedroom, or closet or bathroom. So there's a picture in the hallway which Matthew pulled off the fridge and carried upstairs (Matthew is picking up some of Sam's bad habits). And there's some random toys, some bath toys and some toys which Sam brought upstairs. You see, Sam likes to go downstairs and grab an armful of toys when I'm getting ready in the morning so he has something to play with in the bathroom. He grabs a bunch of cars or books or little animals and drops some on the way up, gets upset at dropping the toys and cries for assistance. The procedure repeats upon returning downstairs, although often some of the toys remain upstairs. They either remain conspicuously in the hallway or migrate to places where they are better hidden like under the bed or dresser and there they remain for some time.Then there's my travel toothbrush which Sam took out of my travel bag (which I though was hidden) and dropped behind the closet door. I just can't keep up.
My type-A-ness really gets overwhelmed by all the stuff and sometimes I just get on the verge of craziness and want to go buy totes and organize. But then I would put stuff away or make homes for things which would find their way out of and I have to decide it I want to fight with various entities in our house to put things in their proper places or just let it go. Ideally, all the proper places would be over 4 feet tall, so they couldn't be easily accessed by the little ones. However, if things have proper places that means that I usually have to retrieve them for the little ones since they are no longer easily accessible. It's easy now to distract Sam or Matthew with whatever toy or random object happens to be within reach because it's been dragged somewhere by little hands. So there's this battle...organization and more work for me to organize, retrieve and put away or disorganization and easy toys within reach and maybe some less work. But then I have to deal with the craziness at the random disorganization of my home. How do people manage?
No comments:
Post a Comment