The Lawson Family...: Organized!!

The Lawson family is gettin’ organized!!! Man you throw an extra kid into the mix and you better be organized. I seriously don’t know how my friend Janice does it with 4 kids, just the thought makes me start to have an anxiety attack!!! Now I realize that part of this is just my personality. Some people don’t have the “need” to be organized like I do, I just can’t function any other way! The funny thing if you knew Jarrod well, which some of you do…the man requires NO organization whatsoever, it makes me insane!! If he could he would literally just live out of the dryer, turning it on each morning to dewrinkle his clothes, get dressed and repeat the next day. He actually used to live this way before me! Now, we definitely have those mornings that mommy forgot to get the clothes out and we are scrambling to get somewhere, but it’s not a daily routine!

So with a baby who is not quite on a schedule yet you never know what she’s going to need and when. I found myself constantly telling Bo I’d get him a snack when I was done with _____ insert about a million possible responses! Bo is also one who before we leave to get in the car he’s asking for a snack to take, so I’d have to put everything down get out a snack, put it in a bag, gather everything back up and go. I know not a big deal, but when you’ve got your hands full with baby, carseat, diaper bag, etc…it’s a task. Sure you can buy everything in those cute little small packages, but it’s so much more expensive so I took matters into my own hands! We also needed some help with craft items.

So here is what I did…

Craft basket with things that require supervision…glue, ink, scissors, etc…He has his crayons for whenever he wants to color, but these things he needs mommy for. It’s actually one of those utensil carriers that you’d use for a party or picnic to put your forks, spoons, napkins, etc…I really wanted a metal one but this will work for now. It’s full of fun things included wiggly eyes, a craft basket isn’t complete until it has wiggly eyes!!

I used some empty mason jars I had left over from a baby shower to hold things like scissors and all the loose puff balls, etc…that he loves to glue on to things!

Craft time while mommy makes dinner!

Pantry snack basket…I took all the big boxes we had with snacks like goldfish and graham crackers and put them in small ziploc bags…it’s already portioned out and you can grab and go. It also takes up much less room than all the boxes! Below I did the same thing with the fridge. I am much more likely to give Bo fruit (and eat it myself) if it’s already washed, cut up, and put into containers. So once again I took fruit…washed and cut it up and also put it in small ziploc bags. I did the same with cube cheese. The apples are pre-packaged from the grocery store, yes you pay more for it, but Bo would never eat an entire apple and I don’t like apples so they just go to waste in our house. I also have the small containers of oranges these are great for school and also yogurt. Both of these baskets are in his reach. He loves being able to get his snack on his own and mommy loves not having to say “no, let me do this first”. He does know he is supposed to ask before he gets anything, which for the most part he does well with. I don’t want him just snacking all day long!

Next up…we have started a chore chart! Granted they are very simple and things he’s pretty much doing anyway, but I am wanting to start introducing responsibility and being held accountable. So I have put a chore chart up on the refrigerator. It is broken into morning chores, afternoon chores and “to earn” chores. Right now he is getting marbles to put into his marble jar after he does each chore just to get him into the habit and because that’s about all he’s going to understand at 3. As he gets older the first two rows of chores are chores that he will have to do to live here, it’s just expected. The bottom row will be “extra” chores that he can do to earn money. The first two rows of chores will have to be done before he can choose from the bottom! When we start this we will then start with the “spend, save, give” method with whatever money he earns. Right now the boy is happy with marbles so we’ll just stick with this for a while. He also gets marbles for good behavior…helping mom and dad, being nice to baby Charlotte, doing something before it’s asked, etc… at the same time if he gets in trouble, goes to time out, etc… he gets marbles taken away. Then once his jar is full he gets to choose a treat. He can go get ice cream, a toy from the dollar store, etc… I had everything laminated and have velcro tabs in each space and on the picture cards. He loves coming down and taking the pictures off after he’s done his chore. Right now we just take it off and put it in a bag next to it until I come up with a better method. Then I just put everything back up at night.