Ah, you ain't seen nothin' yet ... jest you wait for the teen years and beyond (assuming she'll move out by the age of 28 or 30.
Hint: If you ever give her some cheese, check the drawers and closets no later than a week or so after the snack.
Lots of science projects in those crevices.
Eventually you learn to stop looking and cleaning - that will help keep you your blood pressure in check and less hair will fall from the top of your head.
It is so nice to know that my friend's kids' rooms look like my kid's rooms!
There is cleaning to do with your child and then there is cleaning that has to be done when they are not around...we are due for one of those cleanings soon!
You are dead on about having more energy by having the house clean. Too bad I know this from the cleaner stand point. All of my clients tell me how much better they feel after I come clean their house.
so much storage space! I'm really impressed by the window seat storage boxes. Now if I had something like that in my home office, the spare bed/couch wouldn't be covered with papers. Or would it? Maybe untidiness is something that we never really grow out of?
Many projects on the go, hoarding pretty papers, a love of food ... she sounds like someone else I know (virtually that is) ;) Lovely little room, I also particularly like those storage boxes under the window seat. And ja, coming from a country in which it's almost a given that you have someone to clean for you, I'm still flooded with love and appreciation every Wednesday afternoon when my cleaner leaves everything fresh and sparkly. It really feels like a gift!
All these girls in this age group have these hoarding tendencies, saving every little piece of paper, broken crayons , half eaten mystery food. I have cleaned my granddaughter's bedroom a few times and she was upset with me for "re-organzing" all her stuff. Wait until they are teenagers when they change their clothes all day long and leap them in heaps!
I too have a hard time cleaning my girly's room. She is always "right in the middle" of playing with EVERYTHING! So, when I clean up I feel like I am interrupting her creativity and her game/play.
But, there comes a time once a quarter that I need to go in and it does take the better part of a day.
So it goes.
February 24, 2009 at 7:42 PM
i spent the better part of my morning cleaning sabin's room and it was such hard work that i have to share the "after" pictures here (i didn't have the heart to take "before" pix) if only to remember that it was once clean, since i doubt it will stay that way for long. it's not a huge room, but it is a very pink room, as you can see. still, she accumulated an astonishing amount of papers (most of them with drawings of varying quality on them) and other junk that took me nearly three hours to sort through and straighten up.
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i felt motivated to do this because the rest of the house is clean and sparkly thanks to the wonderful sylvia, who comes and takes care of that every friday. it continues to astonish me how much energy it gives me that i have someone come to clean. if i'd known that, i'd totally have arranged for it years ago.
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in amongst all of the candy wrappers and small stashes of leftover saturday candy, i found a lot of bowls and cups that i'd forgotten we even had. i also loaded up a big bag of old stuffed toys to take to the good will for some other lucky child. she's still got plenty, as you can see (the two giant bears from ikea--one of which once belonged to her big sister).
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i had a lot of time to think about what causes her to be such a pack rat. she wants to save every single scrap of paper she's ever made a scribble on. it was so bad before i cleaned that the little window seat above was completely covered in papers and toys and she couldn't even use it. it's such a relief to have it tidied up now and i'm sure that she'll feel much better when she sees it too.
i found all kinds of caches of cookies and rice cakes and even an old petrified apple tart from a batch that i made last summer sometime. it's madness. was the child in the seige of leningrad in her last life and she feels driven to hoard food in her room? or is she just forgetful?
i think it's that she really loves her room and likes to spend time there and that means taking snacks up (which i'm going to issue a decree against) while she plays with lego or plays on her computer. and the past few days, i'm so proud of her, she's taken to writing stories in Pages, her word processing program. she even used photobooth to take a picture of a postcard and dropped that into her document. she has an innate ability with the computer that is breathtaking.
i'm just glad it's tidy for now. but i won't hold my breath for how long it lasts, but it seems a bit of spring cleaning feels quite good.
11 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formit's amazing what children can do now that I never dreamed of....I can remember making notebooks by hand as well as a small newspaper.
she sounds so very creative.
February 23, 2009 at 10:54 PM
Ah, you ain't seen nothin' yet ... jest you wait for the teen years and beyond (assuming she'll move out by the age of 28 or 30.
Hint: If you ever give her some cheese, check the drawers and closets no later than a week or so after the snack.
Lots of science projects in those crevices.
Eventually you learn to stop looking and cleaning - that will help keep you your blood pressure in check and less hair will fall from the top of your head.
February 23, 2009 at 11:01 PM
It is so nice to know that my friend's kids' rooms look like my kid's rooms!
There is cleaning to do with your child and then there is cleaning that has to be done when they are not around...we are due for one of those cleanings soon!
February 23, 2009 at 11:15 PM
You are dead on about having more energy by having the house clean. Too bad I know this from the cleaner stand point. All of my clients tell me how much better they feel after I come clean their house.
February 24, 2009 at 12:09 AM
Ah yes, the never-ending battle of the room. I love her cheery room, especially the desk under the bunk bed and the window seat.
How great that Sabin loves to write for pleasure.
February 24, 2009 at 3:28 AM
her room is magazine worthy! beautiful. my daughter Lola is this way- a pack rat with wanting every piece of paper...
Ps
Word Veri: makerest
February 24, 2009 at 5:52 AM
so much storage space! I'm really impressed by the window seat storage boxes. Now if I had something like that in my home office, the spare bed/couch wouldn't be covered with papers. Or would it? Maybe untidiness is something that we never really grow out of?
February 24, 2009 at 7:19 AM
Many projects on the go, hoarding pretty papers, a love of food ... she sounds like someone else I know (virtually that is) ;)
Lovely little room, I also particularly like those storage boxes under the window seat.
And ja, coming from a country in which it's almost a given that you have someone to clean for you, I'm still flooded with love and appreciation every Wednesday afternoon when my cleaner leaves everything fresh and sparkly. It really feels like a gift!
February 24, 2009 at 7:58 AM
All these girls in this age group have these hoarding tendencies, saving every little piece of paper, broken crayons , half eaten mystery food. I have cleaned my granddaughter's bedroom a few times and she was upset with me for "re-organzing" all her stuff. Wait until they are teenagers when they change their clothes all day long and leap them in heaps!
February 24, 2009 at 8:31 AM
What a Perfect ~ Pink ~ Pre teen room! Barb
February 24, 2009 at 2:52 PM
I too have a hard time cleaning my girly's room. She is always "right in the middle" of playing with EVERYTHING! So, when I clean up I feel like I am interrupting her creativity and her game/play.
But, there comes a time once a quarter that I need to go in and it does take the better part of a day.
So it goes.
February 24, 2009 at 7:42 PM