According to my 5-year-old, there is a profound difference between superheroes and pirates.
So much so, that they may not be stored together in a ziplock baggie.
I’m not much of a boy, so I’ve never really thought about it a lot.
But I do know one thing.
Superheroes did not do this to my family room.
And so, much to my chagrin, because I can’t stand banging my head against the wall – and if cleaning up after kids isn’t banging your head against the wall, I don’t know what is — we gathered together on Sunday morning to put things up for 30 seconds before my kid started scattering them around again clean up.
And I figured, as long as we’re diving into the disaster area, we might as well do it right.
“Stop!” I said to hubs as he tossed an armload of crap into the toy box.
“Let’s put this shit stuff where it’s supposed to go for once.”
So we started actually SORTING toys.
There’s a snake in my boot. And a woody in my box.
Toy Story stuff with Toy Story stuff.
Cars with trucks.
Plastic kitchen food with what I hope is plastic kitchen food.
After about ten minutes, I noticed that Ash had started his own categories.
The kind of categories that can only come from a 5-year-old mind.
And, of course, superheroes.
So I started to add things to his organizational piles, unnoticed.
But then I put some pirate figures into the Superhero bag.
Within seconds, he found a rogue Spiderman and scampered over to toss it in the bag with 18 other various superheroes I’ve never heard of that he’s obsessed with and this is what it’s like to be the mom of boys when you come from a family of all girls.
He placed him inside, saw the pirates and said emphatically, “PIRATES??? Ā NO!!!!!”
Then threw Captain Jack Sparrow and his two marauding comrades back on the floor where all nonsuperheroes belong.
So I made him signs for his fantastical categories.
Because I knew this was something we needed to remember.
And because I like the way he thinks.
Categories can be weird things.
I started off thinking this post was gonna be snarky.
Instead it turned out all squishy.
Oh well.
I’ll let the post be what the post wants to be.
That’s the kind of mom I am.
I have one of those last squishy things that I would love for Asher to store away for me š
Okay so how long do those things stay sorted in your house? I sort ours often and then five minutes later everything is in the wrong place all over again and my eyes are twitching.
They were unsorting before they were completely sorted. So, yeah. Not really worth it at all. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Yes, it’s in his genes! Remember the stories of Gabe and his Fisher Price Toys? Before he got in bed for the night, the red man had to be put in the red car; the yellow man had to be put in the yellow car and so on. And heaven help us if we lost the green car…..what would we do? That gene runs deep in this family !
don’t ya just love his creative categories though? i LOL every time i think about “dizzy stuff.”
Yes, and I can just hear his sweet little voice saying it. Miss those boys…and of course, y’all too!!
I love his categories (especially “dizzy stuff”), and how the post got all squishy, and that you disclosed that it’s already disorganized again (so I don’t have to feel so bad when I trip over toys in my own living room).
Oh the futility of it all. It’s about 50% as bad as it was, which I guess is technically a win. Oh maybe we should just call it a draw.
Thanks for stopping over to make me feel like I’m not somehow both the most impatient and the squishiest mom out there.
yeah, duh mom!! They are not the same. I love it- ‘Dizzy toys’. Cute!
Dizzy things is my favorite, by far. I put myself in that category just for trying to clean up after a 5-year-old.
Oh, how I love that! I have two boys and had only one sister, so I feel you! I love “dizzy things”. Ha! I love that he wants to be so organized.
Nothing stayed organized for more than few minutes. In fact, the signs I made are now scattered all over the family room floor with all the dizzy stuff. At least it was good for a laugh.
I am the same. Our house is always in Chaos try and organize the 4 kids try and destroy.
It’s all futility, no? And you have double the kids! Good luck with that. ; )
Dizzy stuff. Squishy things. Treasure.
Yeah, I like the way his brain works, too. Adorable!
I love this, you are an awesome mom!
Man, I really like you. Can you come back?
Oh my gosh!! HOW could you put Captain Jack with the superheros?! Ugh, DUH! Lol. So, I am a life-long perfectionist but I also have hardcore ADD; I can’t even organize one room in my 2 bedroom apartment without getting bored/frustrated/overwhelmed. My son has some chores and picking up his things is one of them but I pretty much leave his room however he wants it as long as the floor can be vacuumed from time to time.