Cleaning his room is not something that Sam excels in. Math? Yes. Science? Most definitely. But picking up his room? Absolutely not. Normally one must kick a path through his room to get to the other side. If you have a similar creature in your house, I have the solution for you…In One word….IKEA. No, they don’t have kitties ready for purchase and assembly, but oh well.
I bought a mesh laundry hamper and 2 corner shelf units…that can stack on top of each other. He and I cleared out one corner of his room and placed the shelves in the corner. They are very sturdy, but we will still be bolting them to the wall, since this is earthquake country.
No sooner were they in place, than he became a cleaning dynamo. He spent the remainder of the afternoon, cleaning….he even vacuumed his room. (Vacuuming was a favorite pastime when he was a toddler.) Cleaning his room is an ongoing BATTLE in our house so for him to jump in a pick up his room is something rare…like Haley’s Comet.
His door was closed for the big unveiling in the early evening. My husband and I were prepared to ‘ooh and ahh.’ Wow! I thought for a moment that I walked into the wrong bedroom. He had even made his bed. Who knew that 2 pieces of furniture and a laundry hamper could have such awesome results?
My next shock came this morning when he made his bed, brushed his teeth and changed his underwear, all without being reminded. I looked at him as we headed out the door for the day, and in my best Dr. Seuss voice said, “Who? Are You?”
