Kids

Is is possible to live in a small, uncluttered space with kids?

When we knew we were going to be parents, we wondered if we should look for a new home. Did we want to live in an apartment with a kid? The more we considered it, the more we realized we wanted to stay. We still live in the same apartment. Yes it gets messy, but it works.

Our one-bedroom apartment is small, but it’s not extreme. It’s not as small as what you might find in New York. It has a study — a small side room with no closet. When Lane was born we turned it into her bedroom.

 
I’m definitely not a parenting expert, but I’ll share the few thoughts I have. I’ve learned that it’s not the kids who need or want a lot of toys. It seems to be the parents or grandparents who lavish too many toys on kids. There’s a joke about how kids enjoy the box or the tissue paper more than the gift, and it’s really true sometimes.

One strategy is choosing toys that are small or things that are already around the house.

• Sheets of paper or boxes can provide hours of creative play.
• Crayons and finger puppets don’t take up much space.
• I shortened the broomstick handle with a saw so Lane could sweep.
• She uses my paintbrushes to paint with water on the patio.
• She stands on a chair to wash dishes with me and play in the sink.
• We turn on music and dance around the living room.

Lane loves to play with my things. I fill up a tote bag with little things of mine that she can play with. She dresses up in my clothes and clomps around in my shoes. And when she’s tired of those, I put them back and get something else. 

When we’re out shopping, I let her pick up toys and admire them, but when it’s time to go home, she’ll happily put them back on the store shelf. She doesn’t feel the need to bring them home.

Occasionally I go through her toys to see what she’s not playing with. If a toy’s only use is to be tossed on the floor instead of played with, then we donate it. I’m hoping to teach her to do this with me, but it’s too early to tell how it will go.

 
To make Lane’s room into an open space where she could play, we removed some furniture and placed storage along the wall. Not having all the furniture makes it seem much bigger and more open.

Lane hangs her umbrella, bag, hat and coat on hooks. A wood shelf is mounted on brackets two feet above the floor so she can reach everything easily. Baskets hold all of her toys ($10 for all 4 from IKEA). A magnetic board holds her alphabet letters ($10 from IKEA).  

Her books are on display in a vinyl rain gutter ($12 from a hardware store). Seeing the covers of the books makes it easier to choose one. Not all of the books fit — more are stored in a cabinet, and I rotate them every once in a while.

In the other corner of the room, a flea market sewing cabinet makes a changing table, and the shelf above holds supplies. A duvet cover turns into a curtain with clips. A picture of Humphrey Bogart hangs above the door to the patio. (I don’t know- it’s Doug’s.)

In the dining room is her play kitchen, and I chose a small, wooden one so it would be nice to look at. We also have a small water play table on the patio.

There are days when her toys are all over the apartment. But even if every single toy has been brought into the living room, it only takes 10 minutes to put everything away with her helping me. We just scoop the toys into the baskets and put them back on the shelf.

What will we do when Lane is older? I have no idea, but I bet there are readers who know how to organize and keep their kids’ toys manageable. What do you suggest?

In the Paper Pile Makeover we’re looking at every kind of paper that accumulates in the house. One of these is children’s school and artwork: precious, but boundless.

Recently my sweet and sentimental mom decided it was time to pass down the artwork she had saved for me from my childhood. With the number of rainbow drawings and writing samples, the collection was far too vast for me to keep.

I sorted through them and chose a few to keep in a scrapbook.  The scrapbook is low-key and simple:  less than $10 and it has 12-inch pages with sheet protectors to slide the artwork into.  

The one deciding factor:

Keep only the papers that make me smile the most.  

I love looking through the pages of this art scrapbook.  My mom had written short notes and dates on the backs to explain their significance.  There are paintings, short stories, and drawings.  I still draw birds in the exact same way.

Do you know how to manage your kid’s art?

Help from Experienced Moms

What to Do With All of This Artwork? - Kiddio gives help for choosing which artwork is worth keeping, how to store it, and even tips for how to trash it without tears.

Look What I Made! - Holly shares how she keeps and displays the special artwork from her three children, but avoids keeping dozens of glued macaroni pages for posterity.

Like Mother, Like Daughter - Dana shares the scrapbook of her eight-year-old daughter’s art. What I love about this one is how her daughter chooses which art to save and creates the scrapbook herself.

What’s your strategy for keeping your kids’ artwork in a meaningful, yet manageable way?

I’m pretty new at parenting.  I’m definitely learning as I go.  Some of the advice we took to heart from the very beginning is that kids don’t need a lot of toys. We live in a one-bedroom apartment, so we really have to keep the toys to a minimum.

Lane stays close to me most of the time, and she’s really into “helping mommy.” She loves to wash dishes, dust, and carry my stuff around.  She dresses up in my clothes and clomps around in my shoes.  Sometimes when I write emails, she’ll climb up and help me type.  She can spend an hour outside playing with mud, spoons, and rocks.  We like to go places during the day: to the park, or to the pool in the evenings. She loves to go grocery shopping.

It’s getting hot outside and we’re trying to drive less, so I need some ideas for fun things we can do at home.  (When repeating “bonkey monkey” for 20 minutes straight while running on the couch and laughing hysterically isn’t enough.)

• Beth at Write, Mama Write shared a priceless list of mood changers for toddler days.

• At PreSchool Mama you’ll find lots of creative ideas from a former Montessori preschool teacher.

• More ideas for art making are at Artful Parent. How fun does painting with marbles look? 

I love to cut hair.

Once I convinced my cousin Callie to let me cut and color her hair. Did I know how? Of course not, but how hard could it be? Sorry Callie. (It was Jill’s idea.)

I know I’m not the only person to pray, “Lord, I know it’s just hair, but could you please let this be a good haircut.”

Lane turns two today.  My dearest one.

We had her birthday party in the park on Sunday.  For her cake we put two pink candles in an ice cream sandwich. When it was time to blow them out, she didn’t know what to do, so she tried sniffing them instead.

Now she has a play kitchen, but “play” is misleading.  When Lane cooks it is with the serious concentration of a top chef, creating masterpieces like sauteed eggs with mushrooms, chocolate bar sandwiches, and salami with carrots.