What habits are you going to have to let go?

[jojo2324]

Besides the obvious ones...

The biggest thing I am dealing with now is my need for complete sets. I cannot STAND that some of Gannon's toys are missing pieces. Every night after he goes to bed, I put his toys away, making sure that all of the pieces are together with their appropriate holder, setting, etc. Right now we are missing the top to a set of stacking rings and some pieces of his sorting block, not to mention about a dozen Ball Blast balls.

I know that I need to let this one go. There is no way when he is 5 years old that I am going to be scurrying around, searching for pieces of Lego! But it's so hard...:)

What quirks are you going to have to give up now with kids?

[egoldber]

Umm. I have to give that up??? I also spend time every night scurrying around looking for all the pieces to Sarah's toy "sets". I spent an hour one night looking for a paper package that goes to a FP Sweet Streets Post Office. DH had to drag me out of a restaurant last night when I couldn't find the playdoh "cookie cutter" that DD dropped at some point during dinner. Which reminds me, I need to call the restaurant...

And as an amusing anecdote, the speech pathologist was over here one day and Sarah was playing with her Fisher Price My First Blocks shape sorter. And the SP told me she didn't even know that there were supposed to be 12 blocks, because all the other families she saw only had 3-4 blocks left, LOL!!!

But I don't have a problem, I swear!!!!

[Andrea S]

I have the same one as you. I put his puzzles together and run around trying to find all his pieces to everything. The other piece to this is having all the pieces that go with something for example he liked the peek-a-boo blocks so I have to stop myself for buying every single 1 of them. I want them all in a neat basket on the shelf well that is after he is in bed.

BTW, have you ever seen the ball blaster balls sold separetly? Andrew loves these and I want more for him we are missing 1.

Andrea
mom to Andrew 8/14/02

[parkersmama]

LOL! You all are cracking me up!! Mainly because I can *totally* understand your obsession! And....

I have a solution for you!!! Here it is...

***Have a second child!!!***

When #2 comes along, all hopes of keeping all those little pieces together are gone. Yeah, it might take a little while. It might happen little by little. But, eventually, you're just happy if all the toys are thrown into bins and in the playroom rather than all over the house! I used to obsess about the F-P farm having all the animals paired up and put in their "proper" slots! LOL! Now, if I can even locate all the animals, I feel like I'm a champion organizer! :P

So, Joanne, your time is coming. Maybe by this time next year, you'll be like me, looking back on your former days of toy organization and wondering how on Earth you had time for things like that. hehehe.

[jojo2324]

LOL, thanks Denise! :D

Yeah, I can imagine I'll reach the point where I don't care anymore. But it's so hard until then...I am so annoyed that I can't find the top to his stacking rings! It's not like we're living in a mansion and the toys have much room to be lost!

Edited to add: Andrea, I have not seen the Ball Blast balls sold separately, but I'm pretty sure you can order them from FP. I remember Helen (brubeck) saying that they were crazy expensive though, I think $10 for 5 balls?!?! And that might have been before shipping...The ball blast is only $20 after all. Gannon doesn't even use the balls for his ball blast anymore, just sticks bits of paper or bath toys in the openings. :)

[C99]

I'm currently letting go of my habit of checking my e-mail several times a day! Can't do this with a rugrat!

[jojo2324]

Aaah, but the boards will never fall to the same fate, right? LOL :D

[atlbaby]

OMG I am so incredibly happy that I am not the only one that does this every night! Whenever I can't find a piece to one of Arielle's sets it makes me literally crazy! I feel so incomplete, LOL!:) I will count up every block, find every piece to her Little People sets etc every night...and after she goes down for a nap. I must admit though, I used to do this after she went down for her morning nap when she was taking 2 naps/day, and when I had to give that up I wasn't happy! DH made me stop though. It was hard.:) I also have a bit of a problem letting him pick up after Arielle because he doesn't put things back the right way--and I KNOW he won't count blocks! Good thing he's only offered to do it once or twice at best!

Because I'm 40+ weeks pregnant though (GRRRRRR) I did stop short of trying to lift up the couch to retreive a book that had slid underneath today. That's a good thing, right?:)

-Rachel...who hopes this baby will come SOON!!!

Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01
#2 EDD 10/24/03:)

[hez]

I have to give up my lazy Saturday & Sunday fall afternoons spent reading/napping cuddled with DH on the couch while he watches football... Football's still on, but now DH has chores to do during the games (the laundry room is RIGHT next to the family room!), and DS is now my cuddler, which is wonderful. However, I've read 15 whole pages in the last week, sigh. I've pretty much given up on reading in general, which stinks for a bookworm!

On a side note, DH is going to have to give up his neatness quirk-- he was always the one with the perfectly organized closet. We're not to the 'toys everywhere' phase, but it's coming, and I'm curious to see how he'll react...

[starrynight]

I was a toy obsessor too! I would stay up at night making sure ever piece and block was in it's place and would be so upset if something was lost. Now 3 kids later I just care that the toys are picked up enough that I don't lose a toe in the middle of the night LOL. About once a year I still obsess and go through all the toy buckets and put everything back "right" and then cry 10 minutes later when it's all jumbled again lol.

I gave up eating anything while it's hot or without having to share if the kids are awake. And I don't read half as many books as I used to :(.

[suribear]

Me too! I used to do that all the time, esp. with the little people. I'm still like that with puzzles, doll clothes and felt sets (i keep things together in a ziploc now that dd is older). And games.. basically, anything where it makes a difference :) I do like to keep different categories together for other toys (like trains, kitchen stuff, balls, little people) but I no longer obsess over the individual pieces.

Now that ds is here, I just want to keep those pieces away from his mouth!

Kris

[lukkykatt]

I'm with you, sister! I have let go of the toy obsession. Yesterday, in a fit of "organization", I thought I was doing really well as I pulled some toy pieces where I knew the "main" part of the toy was either upstairs/downstairs! I also put away the toys in my son's bedroom for the first time in a week, which is a new low.

Other things I have let go:

1)Balancing the checkbook. Mine used to be to the penny. Now, I have our checking account linked to the savings account so I can't bounce. And online banking and bill paying. I just toggle between the two windows, making sure we have enough in our account as I am paying the bills.
2)Everything has a place and everything is in its place. Now most days it is everything has a place and nothing is in its place.
3)My new motto is good enough is good enough.
4)Sometimes I have to choose the boys outfits based around the color of the one clean and matched pair of socks that they have left!

This comes from a person who used to have a Felix Unger-like personality. My sock drawer is still organized, my clothes still hang in the closet all on the hangers the same way - those are my domains and I'm not letting go! Most other things I have found, are negotiable...

Joanne, you will love your new sense of freedom once you can embrace it! :)

[gravymommy3]

I used to care somewhat if a piece to a toy went AWOL. Now, if I see a piece of a toy on the floor (after I have told the kids to put it up), I just suck it up the vacuum. That is what having three kids close together will do to you!!!!

[celfsh]

LOL, Amy!!!!

celeste
mom to olivia 9/25/02

[redhookmom]

Amy,

LOL, I want to be you when I grow up!!

Jessica

[nohomama]

Oh honey, I can totally relate to the complete sets thing. My neurosis runs so deep that about once or twice a week after Lola goes to bed I dump her two Lego sets out in the middle of the living room floor. I then not only make sure all the pieces are there but also sort them into the "correct" container using the pictures on the side of the bins as my guide(you know, the ones that show each piece and tell you how many there should be). I actually get surly when I don't manage to do that sort (no pun intended) of thing. I'm a goner.

[parkersmama]

Sarah, I think you might just lose your mind if you stepped into my house! LOL! Our legos are a mess, the wooden blocks are jumbled, the cars are all thrown in together, and so on. Mind you, everything has its own labeled bin or container...my children just don't *use* them very often and I can't seem to find the time!

[nohomama]

Denise,

The thing is, I can totally deal with chaos in other people's homes. It's only when it looks like a tornado hit my home, which it does more often than I'd like, that I start to become slightly unhinged. I think I will have to employ some deep breathing techniques in order to cope with the consequences of child #2. And I'm not talking about labor:).

[newbelly2002]

What does it say about my (lack of) organization when Dante this morning pulled out the watering can, the vaccum cleaner, the feather duster, and the handsweeper and pan, put them all in the middle of the floor and then brought them to me one by one?

Think he's trying to tell me something?

Right now I'm just trying to keep the kid toys separate from the dog and the cat toys. As long as they all end up in their correct "species" bin or space, I can (mostly) sleep at night.

Paula
Mama to Dante, 8/1/02

[bluej]

LOL! And THAT is why we no longer have the itty bitty Legos! Somethings are just easier to vacuum up than to pick up! And my thought is, if they don't care enough about it to pick it up, then I don't either! Unfortunately, matchbox cars are too big for the vacuum :(