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Travel back in the CorporetteMoms time capsule… Here’s what was on our minds in previous years.
One year ago…
Two years ago…
Three years ago…
- Open Thread: Keeping a Clean House
2 Cents says
In my office of 40, 21 people are out on PTO, so needless to say, I’m a bit bored :P. Need some reading! Any suggestions? (I’ve already exhausted Ask a Manager and Carolyn Hax.)
Anonanonanon says
Book-wise, I started “Bad Feminist” by Roxane Gay today and am enjoying it. I appreciate that it’s a book of essays, so I can read it in chunks, and it’s real content but doesn’t require a lot of emotional energy to read (if that makes sense?)
Captain Awkward is a good advice blog that’s fun to read through the archives.
2 Cents says
Thanks! I always forget about Capt. Awkward. I wish I could just sit here and read a book because it’s so….slow…
Everlong says
Advice on transitioning to a regular bed, please! My 2.25 year old DS is in the zone where climbing out of his crib is imminent. We have a crib that converts into a toddler bed and a full size bed. A few weeks ago, with no preparation and sort of on a whim, we tried to move him to the toddler bed. I was getting swayed by stories from friends who said the transition was no big deal for their kids. Well, it was a big deal for ours. DS has always been a great, 8PM – 7AM kind of sleeper, sleeps through the night with no issues. Night 1 of the toddler bed, he didn’t fall asleep until after 11PM. It’s not that he kept getting up, he just kept begging for more books. Yes, I’d leave the room, but then eventually he’d get up and start wandering around, then sneaking out of his room, etc. When he finally did fall asleep, he was up every hour. We tried again at nap time the next day and ran into more of the same. Desperate for rest for all of us, he went back in his crib.
He only does well with new things when he is appropriately prepared, so obviously this failed. I also am not convinced that the toddler bed stage makes sense for him because it’s just one more transition. Plus, it seems more like his crib is defective than some big, new thing. Instead, we’re going to take the leap to a full size bed. Today, we let him pick out new bedding, a new stuffed friend for his new bed, and he even thinks he picked out his new mattress. It comes on Saturday.
Please help me not duck this up this time around. Is there anything else we could or should be doing to help him ease into his big new bed? He’s taken care of at home by family, so the number of times he’s slept anywhere other than his crib is less than 5. He did sleep in a queen size bed by himself for 2 nights over the summer when we were on vacation. The first night it took several hours to get him down, the second night took only 1 or 2 hours and he slept longer.
Anonanonanon says
My son was the same (could NEVER sleep in a bed in a hotel, for example) but transitioned quite nicely from his crib to a full-sized bed. For us it was a bit of an accident, I had a full-sized bed in his nursery so I could sleep there when he was sick, or so it could be a guest room when needed. When I converted his crib to a toddler bed, he climbed out of it and into the full sized bed every night.
I think you’re right in that a clearer transition to a different bed instead of just his crib with the side taken off will make it a bit easier. We did hit a patch where I had to sit outside of his door to prevent him from leaving his room for 2 nights in a row (it took a while for it to even occur to him that he could now do this), but after two nights of sitting outside the door with my kindle and directing him back to his room he got the point and we didn’t have any other issues. Once in a while I’d find him asleep on the floor with a pillow and blanket where he’d clearly dragged them down there while he played, but it wasn’t the end of the world.
Good Luck!
Everlong says
Thank you! Good to hear. Also, the excuse to just sit with my Kindle in the evenings, even in the hallway, sounds amazing.
Anonanonanon says
Right?! My childless friends were like “dear god that sounds awful” and I played it up like it was but really…. a glass of wine and a kindle with a new book on it? Sign me up!
Everlong says
And this is why I have taken to referring to this space to my husband as “my imaginary friends” instead of “the people that comment on the blog I read.” :)
PinkKeyboard says
Mine can climb out of her crib. Basically we tried to trap her with a sleepsack and it didn’t work so I told her if she kept climbing out I would take her blankies, talking James (favoritest toy ever), and we couldn’t watch tv and read books together. So basically, if you climb out I will take everything you love in your life…. she now stays in. I’m thinking of switching her to a bed as she’s done so well and she can climb out in a second so she’s clearly being good. So basically, threats is all I’ve got.
Anonymous says
Honestly, if he hasn’t crawled out yet at over 2, but may be doing it soon, you could do what we do which was let him crawl out if you think he’s big enough to do it safely. We kept our little one in a crib until she was 3.5. YMMV, but it worked well for us. The move was actually no big deal at that point because we legit could speak to her about being a big girl and it sunk in better. And yes, we also transitioned straight to a full size bed when we did, which I think also was helpful. It was completely new and completely different.
lala says
+1 on the waiting if you are comfortable with that. We thought climbing out was imminent, but our first never did. We moved him out at 3.5 to a fun bunk bed with no issues. Our attempt to move him sooner (2.5) was a big old sleep deprived fail, so we sent him back to the crib and have no regrets about that.
That doesn’t help if you want to move him out, but that’s what we did for our crib loving child.
SC says
Late seeing this, but my kid crawled out of his crib around 2.25, and we switched him to a toddler bed (crib with the rail off). It was a complete disaster. He had been a great sleeper, and the sleep deprivation made him a crazy, angry kid. Fast forward a month or two, and we consulted a child sleep specialist who happens to be a family friend.
– We took all the toys and books out of his room. Not awesome in our 1000 sq ft apartment, but he sleeps.
– We read books. Elmo’s Big Enough for a Bed and the Sesame Street Nighty Night book were big for him.
– We keep the bedtime routine brief, consistent, and moving (i.e., no playing in between the tasks).
– We stayed outside his door and walked him back to bed when he got out. We ended up going to a Ferber method (2, 5, 10 minutes) once Kiddo made a game of getting out of bed immediately so we’d never leave the room. The sleep specialist didn’t suggest the Ferber thing, but I needed it for my sanity.
– The key to walking him back to bed is to be really, really boring. Passive face and voice. Repeat the same phrase every time.
All of this worked for the most part. Most nights, we have to go back in once or twice, but rarely more than that. It has also worked on vacation, both on an air mattress and in a queen-sized bed, although there the process was closer to 45 minutes the first time he was in a new bed.
rosie says
I went back and read the airbnb post from a few years ago. One thing I will share that happened to us recently was someone had marked her listing as a 2-bedroom when the second “bedroom” was a murphy bed in the living room around which you could close a curtain. So not at all soundproof or dark when someone was in the living room or kitchen or dining room (open floor plan). Airbnb sided with the host, but the host ended up allowing me to cancel right after I booked and fully realized what was going on (and asked her to clarify) because I think I was enough of a PITA, which I wasn’t thrilled to have to be, but there were actual 2-brs in the area for much less money and I was not pleased with how she listed hers.
Anonanonanon says
I found the old thread re: Keeping a clean house interesting. We don’t have a regularly scheduled cleaning service (yet- I’m pregnant with my second so we’ll see) because I’m insanely picky and never feel like it’s up to my standards, but we use the following strategies to make this work for us:
1. my husband does dishes, countertops, trash, and mail. These are generally daily tasks that make a huge difference. He also “restocks” areas of our house with toilet paper, paper towels, etc. and does his laundry and our son’s laundry. I fully recognize we could not manage without his help.
2. Keep cleaning supplies EVERYWHERE. This makes it so easy to just clean a room while you’re already in it and thinking about it. If I had to run downstairs to gather supplies, I’d never clean my upstairs bathrooms.
-Every bathroom has its own dedicated toilet bowl cleaning solution, brush, and pack of clorox wipes
stocked at all times
– Every floor (we live in a 3 floor townhome) has its own bottle of spray cleaner (ie windex) duster (ie
pledge) and roll of paper towels at all times
-Every floor has its own floor sweeper/mopper (bona on the main floor, swiffer with dry/wet pads on the
other two floors)
3. Clean regularly
-Having the cleaning supplies so easily accessible means I’m frequently cleaning, but for a short amount of time. Our main floor 1/2 bathroom, for example, gets wiped down at least once a day. I do the counter, the mirrors, and the outside of the toilet/under the seat/the floor around the toilet every day. The inside of the toilet gets done a few times a week, and the floor a couple of times a week as well. The other bathrooms have their surfaces wiped down at least every two days and their floors dusted/mopped at least twice a week. Since I do it so frequently, it doesn’t take long at all and doesn’t have to be perfect. This keeps me from being overwhelmed with cleaning on weekends, which allows me to focus a bit of weekend time on things like dusting baseboards, scrubbing a shower, etc. since the regular maintenance is done.
-Floors on the main floor get “dusted” (ie swiffered) every day. I use the washable microfiber mopping cloth twice a week, and use a disposable wet mopping pad on them on the other days. Again, since they’re done every day it doesn’t have to be perfect to yield sparkling results.
-The glass shower doors in our bathroom were initially a problem, until we decided it was worth stocking a ridiculous amount of tilex. After every shower someone squeegies the doors and sprays tilex daily shower cleaner on them. It truly keeps them spotless, and I only touch it up with windex every few months.
4. Have a place for all of the “stuff”
We only allow magnatiles and “army men” on our main floor for my son’s toys. They have a dedicated basket with a throw blanket thrown on top to hide them. We also have a storage ottoman with homework supplies in it. That’s all he’s allowed to keep on our main floor, because that’s an adult space and needs to look nice. He gets plenty of play out of them and is welcome to bring other toys to that area, but has to put them away at the end of the day.
Baby stuff goes in storage baskets under our coffee table. Our coffee table was designed to have accompanying baskets (yay pottery barn) where you can’t see what’s inside of them, so we can just throw baby stuff in there without people seeing how cluttered and disorganized it truly is.
Basically, for what we could probably spend on a house cleaner, I spend a ridiculous amount of money on cleaning supplies. Not very environmentally friendly, but keeps the house nearly spotless.
PinkKeyboard says
If my husband read this he would drive to your house to propose after posting on craigslist to have me killed off. You are MAGICAL.
Anonanonanon says
bahahaha no, I fully recognize I can only do it because my husband shoulders a lot of the burden as well. (He does all dish-related stuff, all grocery shopping, all laundry except mine, all trash-related stuff, all grocery shopping, all finding and scheduling repairmen etc.)
Anonymous says
lol, mine too
biglawanon says
Good for you, really, but even reading this brings me anxiety and wondering how you have time to do it all and still enjoy time in the evenings/weekends. I have 1.5 nannies and a housekeeper and still feel like we are constantly behind on the house.
Anon says
I have biweekly cleaners and it’s a struggle just to pick up before they come. We do a pretty good job of keeping everything in its place (our kids also have to pick up before bed, and also have to put away one toy before they get out another one) but the amount of STUFF that comes in our house, like school work and artwork and save-the-dates and new winter gloves and so on, is just overwhelming. Not to mention the piles of laundry and dishes and dog hair that never end.
I want to drastically reduce our consumption because this is just gross, so we’re going through one drawer or shelf at a time, trying to really pare down our belongings. It’s going to take us through the end of next year, most likely, and I’m afraid we’re also going to have to have talks with the grandparents about not giving us things. (We constantly get passed-on magazines, McDonalds toys, a new headband “just because”, mountains of presents for bdays/holidays, etc. They even gave my kids a basket of things for Halloween! Why???) But we just can’t keep up with all this stuff. This isn’t a sustainable life for us, let alone the environment.
Anonanonanon says
Ugh I feel ya. Luckily my husband is a ruthless purger so that helps. I periodically bag up all the crap from my son’s stash (especially things you mentioned like stuff from easter baskets/halloween buckets/whatever else the grandparents just had to buy) and hide it for a month or so, and if he hasn’t missed anything I just toss it all. It’s so gratifying. It does constantly feel like we’re fighting the tide, though.
and to biglawanon: the weeknights are basically a wash, i’ll be honest they’re not enjoyable. But knocking out all that cleaning during the week lets me enjoy the weekends. During the week, by the time I pick my son up and we get home there’s really only time for homework, dinner, shower, and bed for him, so I don’t feel like I’m missing much “quality time” if I swiffer around him while he does homework, or clean one of the bathrooms while he’s in the shower. Then I can kind of collapse on the couch once he’s in bed
Anonanonanon says
Plus I should mention we’re government workers so for the most part our hours are pretty standard (7:30-4:00 for me and 8:30-5:00 for my husband) so, even with my 50 minute commute, I have VERY reasonable hours compared to something like big law
Anonymous says
It sounds like you found a great balance that works for you. My house is definitely not this clean! I view our biweekly cleaners as setting a more of a base level and I work from there. I also have them rotate in areas that I don’t get to clean as much like the basement exercise room and full bathroom. I use a similar system of cleaning supplies stashed in every bathroom.
To me one of the most interesting things about Corporette is reading how different families set up their houses. For us, kid toys are the funnest part of having kids. So while we don’t have a lot, every room on my main floor has space for kid toys – we have a small playroom for my oldest, a family room, a formal living room, a dining room, and a kitchen and there’s something for the kids to play with in every room (toy kitchen in the eat-in kitchen area). And we don’t allow any toys other than stuffies and books in the bedroom. Even the ottoman in my formal living room hides the obstacle course supplies so we can set it up when the weather is bed and kids are cabin feverish. Sometimes DH and I will build lay out a new wooden train pattern across the family room floor before we go to bed at night so the kids can discover it in the morning.