Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Sea Change!

Something has got to change in Leila's room. I wanted her to clean it up yesterday, and she farted around in there for two hours, and then started to cry because the mess was just too overwhelming. She had one of the over-flowing house days; it was pitiful. She was saying she wanted to get rid of all her stuff because it was too hard to clean up. I asked her if she wanted me to go in when she wasn't home and get rid of some stuff, and she said yes.

Now, I know I am taking advantage of her compromised state; she was crying, she was done with the day, she was having a complete nervous breakdown. But I'm going for it! I went in her room and just sat there for a while, and the truth is, I, as the mother, have let this room get completely out of hand. There is too much furniture, I let her tape all kinds of shit to the walls, there are two many toys and stuffed animals and books and plastic pieces of crap everywhere, she has three or four times the number of crayons any kid needs, she has piles of spent coloring books and empty notepads cluttering her desk, dress up clothes that are past their prime, and with Christmas around the corner its only going to get worse. It is in no way a peaceful oasis.

So, when I was done feeling guilty and berating myself for making my offspring live in such a sty, I decided that I would indeed start to cart stuff out of there, little by little, until it reaches a manageable state. Then, I will review the furniture and make some changes. Everything still lives close to the floor from when she was a toddler, and that's just not necessary now. She's practically taller than, like, Prince, and I think she can reach up a little bit to get a book, don't you? I took two grocery bags of stuff out of there today, books, and some toys, and you can't even tell. I figure if I take a bag or two out every day, she'll never notice stuff is missing. I can't wait for her to go to school tomorrow so I can haul another couple of bags out! This time, I'm hitting the stuffed animals (well, not really hitting them, that would be cruel) and the dress up bin. She has three princess dresses that I never wanted in the first place and they are out-of there tomorrow. I should take some before and after shots.

In a perfect world, I would get her to participate with me, and help me choose what she wants to get rid of, and I would respect her stuff, but I've been down that road before and that dog don't hunt. She used to be really good about letting go of stuff, when she was tiny, but now she clings to her stuff a lot more. There are things she NEVER plays with and she will not let me put them away. I think that as she gets older, she realizes somewhere inside that she really has no control over anything (not that any of us really do) and this space is the only thing she feels like she has dominion over, and this is all the stuff she has in the world. I remember that feeling. I also remember that when we moved in the third grade, my Shrinky-Dinks went missing mysteriously and I was bummed. My mom went a little too far, and I blamed myself for losing them. So, I will put all this crap in a big container (I may need to rent some PODS. Just kidding) and label it with an expiration date. If she is looking for something and really wants to play with it, it can magically reappear, but if she doesn't notice anything is missing, it will all be donated after the expiration date.

This is not a very entertaining blog post, and if I told you what I did yesterday you wouldn't be entertained either (laundry, cleaning - really! - and grocery shopping. Yawn.)

There's an unidentifiable dead thing in my yard, and I know that my dog has been carrying it around and licking it and I'm totally grossed out.

1 comment:

lama said...

Thats what I ended up doing two weekends ago with Cal's bins and family room furniture. It was very liberating - especially since you know that our kids will be re-loaded soon with stuff from Christmas/birthday!!