Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Worse Before Better, II: The Overflow

Duncan's second birthday wasn't all about cake and tractors.  Duncan's second birthday also necessitated a ritual that I am hoping will now become annual instead of semi-annual: purging.  We spent yesterday folding and packing his 12 - 18 month clothes, some 9 - 12 month clothes that still fit into last April or May, and a smattering of his 6 - 9 month clothes that just happened to be kicking around.  Now, we just moved in August, so you would think we might have taken care of some of this (no tittering from the peanut gallery who moved all this stuff from CT to NY), but if you think that, you just don't know us.  It was not just the clothes that had outgrown their storage units but also his toys.  His baby toys had to make way for the stockpile of new art supplies, train sets, and stuffed animals he received for his birthday.  (Did we just do this at Christmas?  I think so, but I wouldn't swear to it).  I busied myself with the clothes; I couldn't watch as my toddler's babyhood disappeared into cardboard boxes relegated to the attic.  

His books had achieved critical mass as well.  (Un)fortunately, my husband had the living room books taken care of before I could take a picture of Mount Book, which had overtaken the overflow book basket under the coffee table.  The overflow of the overflow basket was a pretty good indication that his bookcase was also overflowing.  Although I missed the photo opportunity, same loving husband also reminded me that if you scroll down to the tractor picture, you can get a pretty good view of life under the coffee table.  With most of the board books packed away, we discovered that the "big boy" books actually take up less space!  There is breathing room in Duncan's bookcase so feel free to send us books at your leisure.

A good time was had by no one, but the result is well worth a day of vacation.  His closet is outfitted with stacking bins for whatever new toys didn't fit in his toy boxes, and we fit his diaper accouterments into the closet as well; we managed to clear a nice piece of real estate where we will eventually put a toddler table and chairs.  On Friday, we head to the mall to outfit Duncan with his spring and summer wardrobe; one more quick box to fill with 18-24 month clothes (and an entire spring and summer wardrobe to wash and fold), and we're off.

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