Syndicate

I understand that all toddlers are a little odd now and then. I am sure this comes from their limited experience and understanding of the world around them. I also understand that the world can be a large and scary place, and a lot of their behavior stems from trying to add a little order and control in their lives. But some of the things Chloe does, no matter what the reasons, are just downright weird!

Here’s a few of my faves:

• Chloe likes to watch the same episodes of “Little Einsteins” over and over and over. The two she rotates between are: Annie’s Solo Mission (The rest of the characters get caught in a super bubble and Annie has to rescue them) and Dragon Kite (the characters help a little Chinese dragon kite find other kites for a dragon kite parade on the Great Wall of China.) I can’t really say too much…I have now watched Transformers 6 times.
• She rotates between her toys, but she is VERY SPECIFIC about how she plays with each one. She has a collection of figurines that are story book characters, the three little pigs, goldilocks and the three bears, billy goats guff…etc. When I first got them out for her, she would only play with Golidlocks and a pink Ogre looking dude (I have to admit I am not sure what story he comes from.) She would pull those two out and wander around the house with them. Now, she will only play with two out of the three goats, and usually the goats are either running back and forth on our entertainment center, or back and forth over the bottom stair. She also has these “Little People” from two sets, one set is a blonde and a brunette girl driving a car that pulls a camper, and the other is a blond girl that drives a moped with a side car. She kicks the brunette character out of the car, and will only drive around with the two blond girls. I don’t know what the brunette girl did to offend her, but it must have been terrible. These are just a couple of examples, I could go on and on and on.
• I don’t know what to call this other than she has a tactile sensitivity. There are certain things she just WILL NOT touch. Shaving cream, finger paints, cotton balls, and sand are some of the ones I have run across. In her art class, all the other kids are up to their elbows in finger paints, I am lucky if Chloe will put one finger into the paints. And I have absolutely no idea what her phobia is with cotton balls, but she absolutely refuses to touch them. Oh, and I have to mention the smock issue, she will not wear a paint smock. For a child who loves to play dress up, there must be something about the texture or the feel of the smock, because she throws a fit if I even have it close to her.
• Today she found a button on the floor (I think it came from one of John’s work shirts.) She carried that button in her hand almost all day. The few times she did put it down, when she realized she wasn’t holding it, she would look around worriedly saying, “Button, where go?”
• Not only does she not like it when I trim her toenails and finger nails, she also freaks out when I trim mine. I’m not kidding, today I was trimming my toenails in the bathroom, and she was crying, “No, mommy’s foot, mommy’s foot, no!” And she didn’t stop until I put the clippers away in the drawer. (Which reminds me, I need to go finish trimming my nails.)

I really could go on and on. I have an adorable, but odd, child.

Playing “Keyboard-o-rama” on the Elmo’s World website:

Giving baby a bath:

Then giving herself a bath:

Putting baby down for a nap:

Taking pictures of baby:

And your moment of zen- I was doing laundry and she insisted I put the socks on her:

Step 4: Repurpose and purchase organization tools.

Many people try to do this step first. The problem with that is you don’t know what you have, and you don’t have a good idea of how much you have (since you haven’t purged.) I have fallen into this trap, I would get the “organizing bug,” run out and buy all kinds of tools, then come back, only to discover I wasted a lot of money on stuff that I can’t use. As far as tools go:

• Be creative: Cutlery trays can organize forks and spoons, but they can also organize batteries and items in a junk drawer.

• Some of my favorite organizing tools are tool boxes, plastic drawers of all sizes, and plastic baskets of all sizes. I like them because of their flexibility. I reused all the baskets I had for my school store in my cutlery drawers; my tool boxes hold tools, but also paints and painting materials; and the large plastic drawers I bought from Big Lots 8 years ago for $5.00 have held at least 10 different things over the years, right now it houses my scrap booking supplies and gift wrapping materials.

• I recommend that all items you buy coordinate in color, theme, or style. It helps to reduce visual clutter. For example, whenever we need storage boxes, we get them from either Sam’s club or Costco’s. They sell the same style and size of box, the only difference is the color of the lid. We can line them all up on any shelf (we use ones in the basement and attic) and they look great. I also recommend that if you get tools that are not see through, then buy a label maker so you don’t have to pull out every basket or drawer to figure out what is in it. Don’t rely on your memory!

• If you don’t want to buy things, get creative! Our grocery store sells pasta sauces in these awesome see through plastic containers which work great for holding Chloe’s art supplies. Organize small items like jewelry in egg crates. Obviously, shoe boxes are useful, but be careful, they don’t hold up to a lot of abuse. Jars are wonderful if you can get the same shape and size.

• If you are trying to stretch your budget, I recommend window shopping all of the fancy organization websites and stores, and then recreate their ideas using dollar store materials and items from Target/Walmart/Kmart.

• One major organizational dilemma we have is children’s toys. We never know what we are going to get for Christmas or birthdays (or grandma) so it is difficult to plan. I have bins and baskets in her playroom that we bought to fit the shelves, that way they will always look good, no matter what is inside them. We have also collected a lot of hidden storage spaces (an ottoman with storage, a desk with extra drawers). Toys are brightly colored and a variety of shapes and sizes, when left out they add to visual clutter.

• You would be amazed how versatile and cheap photoboxes can be. You can buy them at most craft stores and art supply stores for a dollar, and if you can find them in coordinating colors, they work great in any room. The nice thing about them is they’re sturdier and they look nicer than your average shoe box.

• Look for clearance items at your local home stores (we have a “Home Goods” store here.”) I have found a ton of cheap storage boxes that are on clearance that look REALLY nice when put on a shelf. The trick is to be patient. Know what you are looking for, and keep looking until you find it at a price you can live with. Remember the adage: Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your organization doesn’t have to happen all at once. Allow yourself the time to find what you want at a price you are willing to pay. Being organized doesn’t have to cost a fortune!

I think that I have am in the final stage of grieving. What am I grieving, you ask? Sleeping in. I know many of you are tired of hearing me complain about Chloe’s early mornings. But, what you have to understand is that I was the person that loved to sleep until noon, up to when I had Chloe. I am not kidding, while most people outgrew this stage in college, I was hanging on to it. I even slept until noon most weekends while I was pregnant. I LOVE sleeping in. I am by nature a night owl, and this early morning stuff was frustrating and painful for me.

I now realize that what I have been going through is, in essence, the grief process.

Stage1: Denial- “This is just a phase, she’ll grow out of it.”

Stage 2: Anger- me: “She’s trying to kill me!” John: “No, she’s not.” Me: “Then she’s trying to make me crazy!” John: “That may be.”

Stage 3: Bargaining- “Maybe if we keep her up until 8 pm she’ll sleep in?” “Maybe if I make her nap later in the day? Or earlier in the day?” “Chloe, mommy will put you in your pack in play if you get up again!” “John, if you get up with her today, I’ll get up with her tomorrow. ”

Stage 4: Depression- For this stage, I spent almost a week on the couch while watching movies with Chloe, just so I could get a little bit extra sleep.

Stage 5: Acceptance. After talking to many of the ladies in my mom’s club about their children’s sleeping habits, I have come to realize that I am not alone. That many children wake up early and continue to wake up early until they are teenagers. I have now accepted that Chloe is one of those children, and I can either accept it, or continue to whine about how much I hate it. Since, it is well known that I hate it, and it is not fixing the situation to whine, my only logical choice is to accept it. Just don’t be terribly surprised if the next time you see me I am babbling like an idiot, wearing my clothes backwards, and having hallucinations from the total lack of sleep. (Sorry, change is hard for me!)

Oh wait, its February.

I spent a few moments this evening watching the videos of our friend Teresa’s baby and it brought back so many memories of Chloe when she was itty bitty. Now, as I am planning her second birthday party, I am just astonished on how quickly these little monkeys grow up. Just yesterday, we were giving her sponge baths because she was too small to fit in the baby bath tub, folding up the sleeves on her 0-3 month clothes at four months, and wondering when, if ever, she was going to sleep through the night.

Now, she is running around the house, proudly announcing, “I’m runnin’!” She’s playing peak-a-boo (she calls it be-a-boo) and then says, “I see you.” She asks, “Mommy, what doin?” “Where go” when missing something, and “I find it, ” when finding said object. She loves playing pretend with her baby, even going so far as to scold the baby for “cookies on floor.” She gives her baby walks around the house in her doll stroller, proudly announcing, “I’m walkin!’” and loves to pretend she is eating or drinking off of her play dishes. Of course, her favorite activity is playing dress up, from head to toe, asking me, “help me please,” with her shoes, gloves and sunglasses (aka gagas). For some reason, all her sentences begin with “mommy.” “Mommy, bubbles,” “Mommy, tickles,” “Mommy, milk,” “Mommy, chicken,” “Mommy, abd’s.” Unfortunately, sometimes she is talking to daddy. And she has just started saying, “I don’t wanna.”

Her vocabulary has just exploded, we haven’t counted lately, but she can name almost everything in our house, and if she doesn’t know what it is, she asks, “what this?” and then mimics my answer. She can name almost all aquatic animals, including octupus (opupus) and sting rays, (a ray). All farm animals, plus their sounds. And she is starting to be able to distinguish circle, square, and triangle, and knows red, blue, yellow and green (although, she is not always accurate). She counts “1, 2″ and “9, 10.” Sings about 1/3rd of the alphabet, “row row your boat,” “ring around the rosies,” and “twinkle twinkle little star.”

Physically, she is becoming a climber. She is not as adept as some of her friends, but she’s getting there. She is finally going down the stairs by herself (backwards and very slowly). She’s climbing ladders, stairs, blocks, and up slides (trying to break that habit, but all kids do it!) She can pull herself up onto the ottoman and sofa, and onto John and my bed. She is trying to jump (she gets up onto her toes, but has only left the ground once or twice.) And she loves to kick and throw balls.

John and I have also accepted that Chloe has her own agenda. We don’t always understand the rules of her game, but as long as we follow them, we’re ok. And she is very SPECIFIC. When we play ball, daddy has to sit against the bathroom door, mommy sits in the chair, and Chloe sits in her princess chair, and she directs, “mommy roll ball daddy, PEEESE!” and then she runs over to daddy to collect the ball and bring it back to mommy. We haven’t figured out why daddy isn’t allowed to roll or throw the ball back to mommy, but we’ve learned not to ask.

She definitely has the patience level of a typical two year old, and even though she says a lot, she doesn’t necessarily understand a lot. She difinitley struggles with the concept of waiting. If she asks for something, she wants it to magically appear right then and there, and if it doesn’t, we get a fit. She knows she usually gets what she wants if she says please, but sometimes she forgets to be specific about what she wants. She will come up to me and say, “Mommy, peese.” and I will say, “Please what?” and she’ll return with, “peeeeeeese” and I’ll ask, “Please, what, you have to tell mommy what you want.” Then she’ll say, “peeeeeeeeeeeese” and then throw a fit. I try to explain that I am willing to get her what she wants, but she has to tell me what it is, but by that time, she is not longer listening.

Her sleeping patterns are odd, but I am happy to announce the blanket roll in the sheet continues to keep her from rolling out of bed, after bringing the pack-and-play into her room when she was up at 3am, she figured out it was better to stay in bed all night, and she actually sat in John’s lap for story time tonight (she has been flipping through her own book while we were reading stories.) Unfortunately, she is still getting up earlier than the crack of dawn (she averages between 5:30 and 6:00 am every morning.) I am trying to accept this, but with my night owl ways, and the fact that I am an unbelievably light sleeper and prone to insomnia, I am falling further and further into the abyss of insanity (cue dramatic and ominous music. Oh, and violins, don’t forget the violins.)

All in all, my baby still rocks! She has come so far, and I just can’t wait to see where she goes next!

Step 3: Space Planning

I cannot stress enough how important it is to plan your space before you go shopping for organizational tools. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself spending more time and money reorganizing later when you discover that your systems is not as efficient as it could be.

• Make a list of all the categories in your house. Example: Bath, Kitchen, Chloe’s room, Master Bedroom. Then make a list of each of the sub categories for each of these areas. (I find the graphic organizer called a web the best way to organize this information.) This way, when you begin repurposing tools, or purchasing tools, you know exactly what you are looking for.

• Get out the graph paper. Take those all important measurements. And begin to think about where you want to put everything.

• Make a list of your daily routine, what will you need to make it more efficient? Example: I always put in my contacts, then brush my teeth. So, I have a cubby that holds my contact stuff and a cubby next to it that holds toothpaste and floss. They are all in the same drawer, so I only have to open the drawer once.

• What’s the easiest way for you to clean up? Is it all day long as you go, or is it at the end of the day?

• How do your kids learn? Are they visual learners, kinesthetic learners or auditory learners? You can design their organizational systems from this information. For visual learners you can label all baskets with either words or pictures of what is inside them, have a chore list that has visual reminders, make a map of the room and where everything belongs so they can see it when they need to clean up. Use colors as a cue for where items belong: blocks go in blue bin, markers in a red. For kinesthetic learners, use a magnetic white board with the chores listed where they can move a magnet into a different column when they have finished the chore. Use sticker charts as a motivational tool. Create clean up “games.” (beat the clock is a common one where the kids can either try to beat their previous time or compete against each other.) For auditory learners, create songs to use as reminders for routines and when it’s time to clean up. Chloe loves songs, so I end up making up a lot of songs as transitional cues when it is time to clean up one activity and move on to the next.

• How does your spouse organize? Can you learn from or improve their systems?

• What systems work and don’t work for you? I am constantly reevaluating what works, especially now that I have a toddler whose needs change almost on a daily basis. For example, for as long as we have been in our current house, I have kept all our cleaning products in a bucket in the shower, that way when I had a little extra time to shower, I would clean while I was in there. But now, Chloe can get into the shower and the other day she took everything out of the bucket. So, I purchased a set of shelves for the shower that attach to a pressure mounted bar, I placed these shelves higher in the shower so that Chloe can’t reach them. Now, I can still use a system that works for me (cleaning while I am in the shower) without endangering my child. And trust me, I realize that once she gets taller or starts taking showers herself, I will have to change this again.

Remember, for a house to stay organized, all members of the family have to “buy in” to your systems, so have a long “heart to heart.” Without judgment or punishment, talk to your kids and your spouse about what they think will and won’t work for them. If you try to force a system that seems to make sense to you on them, then it is likely to be doomed. My example for this is my husband’s tools. He has a work bench in the basement that has a peg board attached. I bought him several hooks and cubbies that attach to the board, thinking if he can just hang up his tools when he is done, then he will stay organized. He never “bought in” to this system and the tools are still all over his work bench, because it is still easier for him to leave them where they land. That was $20 wasted.

Went to target today, and purchased the Transformers movie, and Becoming Jane. And yes, they are both for me. I mean, sure John may watch the Transformers movie once or twice. But I will watch it over, and over, and over. Because that’s what I do for fun. And Becoming Jane feeds my obsession for all things Jane Austen. I am also currently reading the book that the movie is based on, as well as halfway through rereading Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility. I am not ashamed of my obsessive personality, I am embracing it!