Chaos Makes Me Crazy...

My friend texted this to me a couple of months ago, and I am pretty sure that it describes me perfectly...

I am not a neat freak for sure, but when our house is a mess, it makes me a little crazy. Madeline's room has been a big source of crazy for me over the last year or so. Last year I moved her chest of drawers into her closet to keep her from pulling out all her clothes all the time. Well, she just switched from doing it with her clothes to doing that with her toys. Since she has barbies, little people, and a lot of dress up stuff I found myself picking up little toys EVERYWHERE. It has been driving me crazy. I want her to play independently but I also don't want a huge mess to clean up all the time. So I decided we needed some order. 

Room before...

After...

 I put her chest of drawers back in her room and moved all her toys to her closet. This way, she can ask me for things to play with, and we can keep the mess a little more controlled. She also seems to play longer when she only has access to a few toys. I got rid of a lot of toys too which seems to help. I get sentimental about her toys but decided that I can't keep everything forever so I had to part with some of them! I decided if it can't all fit in her closet, then she has too many toys. Honestly, it's probably still too many, but its better than it was.

 I left her most of her books and kitchen food out for her so she can play with those anytime, but almost everything else is organized by category and put in her closet. She and Terry have been going crazy building with mega blocks and they're in the rubbermaid container. So far, I feel like this is working. I threatened her about getting into her clothes, and she hasn't so far. I think she's old enough now to know better. The lack of chaos has made me feel much more at peace in her room! I guess that's just parenthood, learning and adjusting as I go...

Her green book basket is a little sad...haha