Projecting

We've got quite a number of projects going that are typical for this time of year. I'm still trying to finish up something that I've got mostly made for Claire's room (I mentioned it several months ago-- don't judge me!), we are trying to put all our Christmas decorations away and stay on top of shoveling snow, I'm working on a Family Emergency Plan binder to put somewhere in the kitchen, I'm also working on a complete home inventory, we just got a job chart started for Mason, and last but not least, this.


I made the ill advised decision last year to put Mason's train table in our loft area. I argued against putting it in his room because I didn't want him to stay up late playing with toys after bedtime. I also didn't want something so potentially loud sharing a wall with the incoming baby's room. Then there was the solid argument that the bedrooms in our house are not that large and a train table alone would take up far too much space.

So we assembled it in the loft (which we normally use for a computer/reading room). The next step was we brought all of his toys upstairs and began using the two trundle drawers as a toybox. The previous toybox we'd had was a large Rubbermaid bin. It got progressively larger over his three years until there was so much unused detritus in the bottom I thought maybe a puppy had moved in that we didn't know about. There was the occasional playdate when all this stuff would get dumped out in the middle of the living room floor (so the kids could use the empty box). After one particularly large dump & play, I spent an hour picking up and swore it would never happen again. So the toys migrated.


Well, they migrated but not to the inside of anything. For about a year now, if we need to use the computer, we've been rooting through shin-high toys, trains, and so on. The room is out of the way enough that we weren't so good about picking up everyday. Suddenly, vaccumming took an hour because you had to clean the toys up first. If you wanted to find a specific toy (anyone met my three year old? He's so specific this was a daily occurrence) or book, forget it. So we came up with a new system. Mom and dad got the loft back and here's Mason's room now: The little table lost its corner. But it gained a game to be played until parents begged for reprieve (oh yes, it's only a week after Christmas and we're already fairly sick of this bad boy, but it's better than watching TV!)
The inner workings. We have nine long and skinny bins put into these two drawers. We left the back part of the second drawer for the large buildings that accompany the train table. There is no way any particular feat of engineering can include them all. The theory behind this is that each bin is categorized: one for plastic dinosaurs, one for Matchbox cars, one for trains (that aren't in the Roundhouse), one for legos, etc. When Mason wants to take a toy elsewhere, he can just take the bin out and we can load it up and put it back where it goes. The jury is still out on whether this will happen, but isn't it pretty at the moment?

The train track dad built to "celebrate". Look at that thing! And he's disappointed that all routes lead back to the roundhouse! This is the kind of thing dads are for and moms gladly let them have it.

More on the job chart later. This post turned out long enough already!