The Kiddos and I have a guilty pleasure: Hoarders. And Hoarding: Buried Alive (Can you believe there are enough people with this issue to have TWO shows?!). There's simply something fascinating about seeing people- many seemingly perfectly normal on the outside world- living amongst stacks, piles, and containers crammed with stuff. And garbage.
Enter Kiddo #3: Elliot, age 6. This boy is literally the messiest child I have ever known. He doesn't play with toys as much as he destroys them. I like to think of him as imaginative. Every toy becomes something other than it was intended to be. Plastic storage bins become drums. My craft dowels are drumsticks. Stickers become tape. Pillows and blankets appear in a corner of his closet and become a "bed" in which he wants to sleep at night. These are non-messy examples.
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His bedroom is the eye of his, um, creative storm. Now, beyond the "creative" destroying, he really is just kind of a slob, too. Wet towels and swimsuits are on the floor, accompanied by papers, books, tissues, random socks, clothes he wore, clothes he got out and decided not to wear, bottles of water, other containers filled with water, or sand, or rocks, bits of paper either torn or cut, pencils, broken crayons, dried out markers, paper bags, backpacks and totes stuffed with more things, granola bar wrappers, popsicle sticks, and about two dozen stuffed dogs. He loves dogs.
I found a framed art print-of a dog- that was once on his wall, under his bed with the glass broken. Thank heavens it didn't occur to him to use it as ice for ice skating, or something! Have mercy.
Yesterday was the day. We decided to clean the room. Under the bed, in the closet, clean out all the bins... The works. It was mostly as you see on an episode of Hoarders: junk galore was put into trash bags, with a few things being decent enough to donate. He really was down with most of it, but occasionally there was a little outburst of,
"I have to keep that! It's filled with memories!" (Broken plastic firefighter helmet)
"You're getting rid of THAT? But it's special to Grammy!" (Broken game, pieces long gone missing)
But all in all, once the room started to clear and he realized how wonderful a clean room with space to play can be, he was very, very pleased. So, his room is clean. Organized. Devoid of junk.
We'll see how long it lasts. Fingers crossed.
Also... Veronica at
Life in the Thrifty Lane is having a giveaway week, and today is Extra Frosting, Please day! Go check it out and enter to win a $25 credit to my shop!
xoxo
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