Too Prepared?

Since nothing says fun on a summer afternoon like sweating it out and arguing with your kids in a hot stuffy bedroom, that’s what we’ve been doing. Every summer we deep clean our house (I blame my mom…she taught me to). Today we were working in Braeden and Mark’s room. This mostly means unearthing and sorting 1 million teeny tiny Lego pieces and unearthing and sorting 1 million teeny tiny Bionicle pieces. There are also a certain amount of rocks (Mark’s) and dirty socks (Braeden’s) and headbands and art projects (Emma’s—keep your mess in your own room Emma!). It’s not a fun job by any means.

The cardinal rule for me is that I have to be very stealthy about my garbage bag. Mark saw me trying to covertly throw something in it and he said, in a voice with panic rising, “What’s in the bag Mom? That’s not garbage is it?”

“Oh, no, this is stuff we’re putting somewhere else.” (Which I guess isn’t a lie technically, when you think about it. The garbage is “somewhere else”.) Braeden is wise to my ways and he wanted to look through “the bag”. I’m wiser and wouldn’t let him.

When cleaning, it becomes very clear what doesn’t get played with. It’s completely neat and orderly. I realized today that the Fisher Price Little People collection we have has arrived at this category. Besides the Little People bin corralling every single Little Person with no strays, the buildings were coated with dust. Time to move them out.

One problem we face (besides the fact that my kids inherited my clutterbug gene and don't dust their room very well) is that my kids inherited my sentimental gene. I wasn’t sure I could get rid of the Little People set. I remember hours of playtime. I remember each one of my kids as a toddler parked in front of the house or barn, with legs tucked neatly under them, lost in imagination. They must remember too. Not one of the kids wanted to get rid of the Little People. We weighed our options. We all acknowledged that they weren’t ever played with anymore. We all acknowledged that we had to keep them. Finally, I decided we’d save them for their eventual children. Can you be too prepared?

I was contemplating the pathetic sappy mother that I am that can’t deal with growing children but then I remembered the day Grandma Geri got out the Star Wars toys that were in the attic and had been Adam’s and his brothers’. Adam, Scott and Brian swarmed the box, leaving no room for their sons who the toys were intended for. They all lay on their stomachs on the floor like they were about 6 years old and played with the Star Wars toys.

Someday I will get out the Little People box and it will transport us back to sippy cup days when Barney and goldfish crackers reigned. If only briefly.

I’ll be ready.

So now I’ll make room for books and CDs, YMCA trophies and scout stuff and Bionicles and Legos…always Bionicles and Legos.