Cleaning Out A Closet

I spent around 4 hours today cleaning out my childrens' closet and dresser. Sigh. This is a task that I have been putting off for a long time.

I begin with Sassy Girl's clothes. I am off to a good start and have a good give away pile going. Then my daughter, the hoarder pokes her head in.

"What are you doing with all of those clothes in that pile?"

"Well, they don't fit you very well anymore and I thought we could give them to your friend Kelsi."

"What do you mean they don't fit me?? I think I could fit into that shirt."

"Umm, honey that it a size 5 and you are 7 years old...."

"It could be a belly shirt."

What I want to say: "HELL NO. You will never wear a belly shirt as long as I am alive. At least until you are 30. And even then if you wear a belly shirt that is just sad."

What I do say: "Honey, if we keep everything, then we won't be able to go school shopping, because we won't have any room for new clothes."

Sassy Girl reluctantly agrees.

I plunder through the rest of the closet slowly but surely. I get through all of the clothes and I find some sort of canister hidden behind the long sleeve shirts.

Hmmm. This appears to be an attempt to hide a living creature in the closet, judging from the holes poked in the top. I decide to open the canister....

Suspicion confirmed. Yes, at one point there was a living creature trapped in this closet. The disturbing piece of evidence? It is no longer there. Which means it is loose in my house. Sweet.



I moved on and finished Sassy Girl's clothes. Two big bags worth. She dramatically told me that she "didn't have ANY clothes left!" I assure you that she did.

Time to move on to Little Dude's clothes. I have been putting off these for awhile. He is my baby. But being four, going on five years old, he is definitely no longer a baby.

I slowly took out his shirts to go through. One shirt in particular struck me.

This shirt made me lose it. I am sure many parents have gone through this before. I know I did with Sassy Girl's smaller clothes. This shirt flooded back memories of his very first day of preschool. When he was so tiny, and got on a bus all the way to his big boy school. He wore this shirt alot during those years. He loved it. And now, he is in his very last year of preschool and too big for this shirt. Tears. Ridiculous tears. My kids were downstairs playing while I was sobbing in their room holding some of these too small items. My babies are getting so big!

Then, just as I was starting to calm down, I came across this shirt.

This was actually a shirt that was purchased for Sassy Girl and handed down to Little Dude. When Little Dude was about 5 months old and Sassy Girl was just turning 3, the hubs and I went to Las Vegas for a trip through my work. I remember all I did was sleep. Little Dude was a night owl and NEVER SLEPT EVER. EVER! Ugh. I think I was a zombie for the first two years of his life. We bought Sassy Girl this T-shirt and Little Dude a little onesie with a similar cheesy saying on it. It was a great trip, but I missed my kids like CRAZY. This shirt brings back all of these memories. As I put it in the give away box, I tear up again. Sigh...I was a mess.


Eventually I pulled myself together and got through the rest of Little Dude's clothes. This is what was pulled out of the room all together.

Holy crap. Maybe I shouldn't put this off so long next time, eh?

And the end result, besides some seriously sappy mom reflective moments....

Much better.

 I am appreciating my children for who they are much more. Sometimes it takes putting those tiny clothes in a give away box to realize how fast they grow and how much we should treasure every day moments as they occur. Because eventually we will be watching them drive away from the nest as independent adults and wonder where oh where did the time go? I am thankful now that there are still a few items of clothing with princess crowns and dump trucks on them...but I am not naive. One day those items will no longer be in the closet. One day their room will be a spare room. That will be a whole other chapter of our lives. 

For now, I want to be totally engaged in conversations about those princess crowns, and dump trucks, and even the bugless bug container I found in their closet.  

Seriously though...what did you have in there? If it was a huge spider that is now loose in the house I will flip out.