Ch-ch-changes!

One guess who used to be a die hard 7th Heaven fan.

You, if you immediately knew where the title of this post came from.

But I digress...

This week we've been working on two big changes with the kiddos (in my book they're big).

One is that we cleared out toys from the play room. They're not gone, gone by any means. But we had three shelves with toys in there. We took out two. And stuck them in the guest room. I stuck all the toys onto one shelf. And then gathered a bunch of the toys that simply "lived" on the play room floor and stuck them on there, too. On the other shelf, I filled it full of their books from their book shelf in the living room and left about a dozen on the shelf.

The babes happily helped me to do all of this, too. Probably because they knew we were not actually getting rid of anything. Let's be honest, their toys are just too freaking awesome to get rid of.

But now, after thinking in my head to do it since H was born, we are really doing a toy rotation. And it's all ready proven to be tremendously beneficial.

There are a few things that will stay out at all times. Their dress up clothes, art supplies, box of blocks, musical instruments, kitchen and foods, train table and farm. Things like puzzles, pounding blocks, various cars, other stacking blocks and shape matching, etc., etc., will get rotated, probably weekly. We'll see how it goes.

It's all ready made a tremendous difference. The stuff they play with they are truly engrossed in. They don't pull it out, and then toss it to the side three minutes later. They play with it, and then keep playing with it, and then are still playing with 45 minutes later and my mind is blown (guess what they're doing as I write this...that's right. Playing by themselves!).

They've also been entertaining themselves more happily since we've made this change. Truthfully, since B was big enough to "play" they've been pretty good at entertaining themselves while I scrub a toilet or something, but they've done so even more, which has been awesome for my ability to try to get things organized and cleaned before Turkey Day.

And most importantly, they just seem more overall content and happy and satisfied.

Our second change is that we've established "quiet time."

Currently it's only for 20 minutes, but I'd eventually like to get it up to 45 minutes. We talked about it for about a week before actually starting it.

Now, in the afternoon, I tell them that in x amount of time we are going to get ready for quiet time. When it's time, they get to choose one toy from the shelf in the guest room to take to their bedroom (they have other toys and books in their bedroom, as well. But this makes it special). We turn on their lights, open up the curtains, I make sure they're all settled in happily, have water if they want it, and then I go downstairs and set the timer for 20 minutes. When it goes off, I go back and tell them quiet time is over if they'd like. They can come back out and play downstairs.

I leave their bedroom doors open. I was hesitant at first as to whether or not they'd actually stay in their rooms and play, especially with the door open, but they totally did. Only H has left for a potty break, which obviously is totally fine.

H has said she wanted to stay in her room and continue playing after the 20 minutes is up, so I know she could totally do a longer period of time.

B, not so much. He doesn't leave his room at all, but about the last 3 minutes he's yelling at me that he's done.

I wasn't sure if this would really make a difference. They haven't napped consistently in over a year, and haven't napped at all in months.

But "quiet time" has been beneficial to everyone. I think the kids really do need that quiet time, away from each other, to just play on their own and rest from the chaos that is one another.

And quite frankly, maybe I need it too. Those 20 minutes are mine. I make a cup of coffee and read Cosmo, which my kids don't know even exists. Good times all around.

This week we've also made a "Calm Down Nook." So I guess that's three changes for the week. Not two. Good thing I'm not a mathematician.

Well, we go back and forth between calling it the "Calm Down Nook" and the "Quiet Nook." I'm not sure which is better. Anyway, we have a bench on the landing of our stair case that sits in front of a window. So we hung up a "Be kind" and "You are my sunshine" picture, and I compiled a basket with a few calming books, stuffed animals, paper, colored pencils, stickers, and their "mad jar." And I plan to make some pillows, maybe this evening, to stick there, too.

It's all ready helped H a ton. When she gets frustrated or upset she stomps her little feet and immediately walks right up there and finds something to do that calms her down. All I did was show it to her and tell her what it's purpose was. She will even say to me now, "Mom, B is really frustrating me. I'm going to calm down." And that's that.

B hasn't quite caught on, which is totally fine. So we go there together to calm down.

But that's a difference between H and B anyway. H typically wants her space when she's upset. B needs you right nearby. And that's more than okay.

Before, they were going to their rooms to calm down, but is seemed too much like banishment or punishment to me, and I really hated the icky feeling it left in the pit of my stomach, so I could only imagine how they felt.

Now on the stairs, they are far enough removed from the situation where they can breathe and collect themselves, but not so far that it seems like they're in trouble. It's a great median. (And is great if I have to help B, that H doesn't feel like I've completely abandoned her in the process.)

So this week has been full of a lot of ch-ch-changes. All of which H and B have adapted to beautifully, and I'm glad we've finally made the time to incorporate.