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This summer, I did a lot of thinking about organization. And talking about organization. I needed to be more organized so that I didn't lose the kids' library books, homework, mittens, etc. Last year was pretty good, but there was definitely room for improvement. I also had to figure out where to put Lucy, since she needed somewhere to sleep too. I was trying to decide if she would share better with Sam or Eric.
When I got home from Utah, I started looking at the spaces and thinking about different options. We have two small bedrooms for the kids and a hall closet. I went to IKEA to look at options there. I had never really thought about putting the boys all in one room, cause I was afraid that they would wake each other up. But our first night home, Eric said, "I don't want to sleep all alone; I need a friend to sleep with." (Now he wishes he had never said that!) So a light bulb went off and I sat in the big green Lazy Boy that I wrote my Master's Thesis in and rocked all my babies in and just thought about the rooms.
At first I thought about putting all the boys in one room and have Lucy's room be her room/the communal room for coats, mittens, etc. But a friend suggested that I turn the hall closet (which was my junk closet, and not useful anymore because there was so much stuff in it) into the kids' coat closet. (We have a front coat closet, but never go through the front door, so it doesn't work--I need a place that the kids can throw their stuff in to as they are walking in the door; it doesn't work if they have to go very far out of their way.)
Then I sat in the big bedroom and let the ideas come to me. The transformation was amazing. I really wish that I had before pictures. Inspired by my parents' closets, I realized that I could get rid of all the dressers. So I got rid of two dressers. I took the lazy boy out of the bedroom and put it in the living room. We also took the twin/trundle bed apart and stored it in the attic until Lucy is finished with her crib. I got shelves from IKEA for the closets and a set of bins for Lucy's room. We put the crib for Lucy in the small bedroom and made a "food storage bed" for Mikey (a toddler mattress on top of some cans of wheat).
I am not exaggerating when I stay that there is at least double the amount of floor space in each room. Now the kids can actually play in their rooms. For the first time, the vents are not covered. I can open the shades because I can get to their cords. The house feels so much cleaner and fresher. The hall closet is organized and I can find what I need. The boys have a "cubby" and they hang up their backpacks, jackets and put their shoes away. It's amazing. Here are some photos:
Sam is a talented kid. Math and reading come easy for him. Because of that, I try to encourage him to read. We have a "rule" in our house that you read for 15 minutes a day. Of course, no one follows this rule (like most rules at this point, unfortunately.) With Sam, even though he whines and complains and says it's too hard, I don't believe him because I have read with him. Maybe it's just that he's done with Magic Treehouse. So one day, he was going through the recycling and said, "Oh, mom! I'm scared to go into the woods." "Why, Sam?" "Because there are bad people there." "Why do you say that?" And then he pointed to the following:
I was so frustrated--you'll read advertisements in random public service announcements, but you won't read a book? Sam's first grade teacher, who worked with him a little last year, was on to him. She figured out that he loved non-fiction and got him a National Geographic reader for kids called Deadliest Animals. He loved it. We've found similar things--a beginners atlas, more scary snakes, etc. and finally he sits down and reads without being asked.
So this summer, I went to my mom's physical therapist for some core training. He noticed that my tendon that holds my right ankle in place was "not functioning" and recommended that I see and orthopedic surgeon to check it out. To make a long story short, my tendon was in the process of breaking longitudinally (sort of shredding like a cheese stick) so I had surgery last Friday to fix it as well as my very flat foot. I won't be able to walk for 8 weeks or drive for 12 weeks, so all of the sudden, I can't cook, clean or drive my kids around. It's quite the humbling experience.
I also had a lot of pain after the surgery and was very grateful for drugs that could take it away. It made me think of the millions of people who do not have good health care, or are injured in war, or throughout history who have been hurt but did not have anesthesia or painkillers and it makes me feel really grateful for modern medicine.
So with part of the time that I'd normally be running errands and cooking and cleaning, I plan to blog. I'll go backwards in time, with whatever topic I feel like writing about that day. I also spend more time with my kids, reading, playing, talking, etc. This is what Mikey and I did today after our lunch:
(He got out Jenga yesterday to play with Ivan. I thought he would play with me, but it turned out that building tunnels was much more fun.)
