Friday night I hit my limit. Staring at the clutter in my house, I couldn't take it any more.
And that's why Sydney has a new bedspread.
Because her old Dora quilt is for toddlers, and she's going to kindergarten.
Follow all that?
Saturday morning I woke up on a mission. We were going to clean. That meant sorting: what to keep (and put away), what to throw, what to box up in hopes of selling some day at a garage sale.
Sydney was surprisingly helpful, bringing me toys and books. "I don't ever play with this doll," she said of a Raggedy Ann that sits on her dresser as decoration. "AJ and I don't ever read this book," she managed to weed out one thin paperback from a bookcase stuffed with dozens of books. And the big one - her Leapster Junior - which revealed her real motivation, "That's for toddlers. I don't need that anymore because I'm a kindergartner." Latching on to that theme, I was able to talk her into parting with a slew of Dora and Diego toys.
AJ was much less interested in helping. And I decided that was okay, too. When it's mommy making the decisions, there's far less conflict.
And so I worked throughout the weekend (now you know why I had no time to blog), clearing out six 18-gallon bins of stuff: three full of clothes, two full of toys, plus one bin full of costumes. Even better, I filled two large garbage bags.
Now for the bad news - their rooms are still cluttered.
The kids have a book, which we all love (probably because it's so easy to relate to) called Too Many Toys. Sydney tried defending her stash saying she's not as bad as Spencer (the boy in the book) because his toys travel out the bedroom door and down the steps. Never mind that her toys fill her room, the living room and a corner of the office; they don't travel down the steps, so somehow she's not so bad.
Coinciding with my decluttering efforts, we started back-to-school shopping this past weekend. Translation: for the six bins of stuff we cleared out, we brought two more in - though only temporarily. Most of what we bought will be heading with the kids to school to clutter their desks and classrooms.
Sydney needed a new backpack. Her Tinkerbell backpack that she's been carrying for two years has deteriorated beyond the point of duct tape repairs. But in her mind, the reason to replace it was "Tinkerbell is for toddlers." (A statement she quickly forgot when we discovered the wings to her Tinkerbell costume while cleaning her room. Suddenly Tinkerbell became cool again as she excitedly put on the now too small costume. But we won't remind her of that.)
Anyway... while shopping for backpacks, Sydney was quite excited to find a Barbie backpack. Barbie is totally for kindergartners.
Sydney next spotted the lunchboxes and insisted she needed a new one of those, too. Except she couldn't really make the argument because - bummer for her - the lunchbox she got last year is in perfectly good shape and has as its theme... drum roll please... Barbie. She couldn't complain that Barbie was for toddlers because she'd just picked a Barbie backpack.
If this is an indicator of what's to come, I just can't wait for the battles to come over brand names and age-appropriate clothing styles.
Though I give her credit for her choice of new bedspread. I agreed she needed a new one, but didn't like the first couple options she picked. And then she spotted the one she wanted most of all. I was skeptical that it would clash hideously with the minty paint color on her bedroom walls, and so warned her before we bought it that if it didn't match, we'd have to return it. What do you know? It matches the walls and carpeting perfectly. Just not all the pink stuff in her room.
I suppose pink if for toddlers, too.
Except when it's on a backpack.
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