Organizing Thursday: Toy Storage Organizer
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When I was pregnant, I vowed I would not let toys invade my living room. Two kids later, consider my space conquered.
In an effort to reclaim some of my floor, I’m thinking of getting this toy storage organizer. The wood frame holds 12 bins that you can arrange however you’d like. It’s also the right height for little ones to get and (hopefully) clean up their own toys. It’s what I need for all those small cars, doll accessories, Legos, and other little things that need a home.
This toy storage organizer is $59.99 at Target and comes with blue, pink, or multicolored bins.
Sales of note for 1/16:
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Nordstrom – Cashmere on sale; AllSaints, Free People, Nike, Tory Burch, and Vince up to 60%; beauty deals up to 25% off
- AllSaints – now up to 60% off (some of the best leather jackets!)
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles with code — readers love this blazer, these dresses, and their double-layer line of tees
- DeMellier – Sale now on, free shipping and returns — includes select options like Montreal, Vancouver, and Venice
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; extra 50% off all clearance, plus ELOQUII X kate spade new york collab just dropped
- Everlane – Sale of the year, up to 70% off — reader favorites include their scoop tee, Dream Pant, ReNew Transit backpack, silk blouses and oversized blazers! New markdowns just added
- Hannah Andersson – Up to 30% off all pajamas;
- J.Crew – Up to 40% off select styles; up to 50% off cashmere
- J.Crew Factory – 40-70% off everything
- L.K. Bennett – Archive sale, almost everything 70% off
- M.M.LaFleur – Tag sale for a limited time — jardigans and dresses $200, pants $150, tops $95, T-shirts $50
- Spanx – Lots of workwear on sale, some up to 70% off
- Talbots – Semi-Annual Red Door Sale – 50% off + extra 20% off, sale on sale, plus free shipping on $150+
Target’s holiday toy ad has a toy Target cart full of pretend Target brand food. Must. Have.
Q for those of you who are academics or have academic spouses like me…are weekend events normal in your or your spouse’s area? In my husband’s area it seems very normal to schedule small, local-ish conferences and research visitors on weekends. I get why, because teaching obligations make M-F travel complicated for most of the year. But it’s also tough for people who have families and I wonder if there would be more pushback if there were more women involved in the decision-making? My husband’s field and especially his small sub-field are VERY male-dominated.
I know I have some fellow mamas with kids with rotten sleep habits here. My 6 year old has struggled with sleep and she may or may not have ADD but here’s what I do know:
When she’s physically tired, she goes to bed great. All summer long she was pooped from camp or swimming and snuggled in at 7:30/8 and was sleeping in a few minutes.
When she’s mentally tired, the wheels come off. She starts acting out and we can see it coming. She can’t pay attention, she throws her body around, will rage-scream, can’t settle down and can’t sleep which makes the whole thing worse.
What does not work:
– Ignoring her (she will just find a different way to act out)
– telling her she can stay in her room but needs to play quietly
– giving her a puzzle book or allowing unlimited reading time
– reading a book out loud (she will pay attention for a bit then things go sideways)
– creating an “area” for her to go when she feels like this (this was a professional suggestion and a complete failure)
– rigid bedtime routine – happens with or without a rigid routine
– listening to calming music or an audio book (too tired to concentrate)
What has worked, sometimes:
– talking a walk
– putting her in the car and driving around (sometimes she falls asleep, sometimes it’s a “re-set” and she comes back her normal sleepy self and goes to bed fine
– ignoring her acting out (this doesn’t get her to sleep but it does curb the wild behavior)
– finding a task she will engage with that requires enough concentration it “snaps her out of” the zany behavior. I asked her if she thought she could drink water from the other side of the cup once and it got her focused enough that she forgot she was an overtired wild thing. Occasionally she’ll style my hair and get into it enough she forgets she’s all worked up.
– laying out consequences for Totally Unacceptable Behavior that we think she can manage. We know she can’t help what she is doing 85% of the time, but we’ve drawn the line at screaming as it wakes up our youngest. She doesn’t hit or throw objects, just bounces literally off the walls, spins in circles, that sort of thing. But screaming is an automatic loss of screen time for X days. We tell her this and she really does try not to.
– being so physically tired she can’t act up. This is hard to do after school and sometimes backfires- days she has an activity are 50/50 in terms of successful bedtime.
Any other ideas? Back to school is CRUSHING us because she comes home mentally drained. Screens seem to make everything worse, but we’ve experimented with letting her watch TV after school as a brain break. This didn’t seem to make any difference.
My 4 year old was exhausted last night and during her independent play time we found her passed out on the floor in the hallway outside her room. She stayed asleep there all night! Kids are so strange.
Asking here in case someone has navigated a similar experience. A good friend of mine has a 4yo son with an IEP. He needs a fair amount of help (social/emotional and physical). Unfortunately his birthday falls just five days before the kindergarten and so in order to keep his help he needed to start kindergarten (even though he would HUGELY benefit from another year in preschool). The public school is apparently not a good fit (they don’t have integrated classrooms and the teacher was overwhelmed). They were rejected from a couple of private schools and finally got him into one, though it’s still not perfect (he’s been there about a week now). I’m not sure exactly what to ask, but…any advice I can pass on to her? She’s so stressed.
I’m packing for one of the only overnight trips I’ve ever taken with LO, and realizing I would be screwed if my grandma didn’t have a whole set up for babies: toys, blankets, highchair, pack-n-play.
I’d like to be able to take other trips, probably over the holidays (around 9 mo old) if not before. Assuming a road trip with a couple nights at a hotel or staying with family who don’t have gear…what would you pack? what would you buy?
Kid has school photos today. His passport photo looks like he’s been traumatised and he’s been doing a cheesetastic grin lately. I told him to smile like grandma told him a really good joke so fingers crossed. I’m hoping he took his oversized school cardigan off and just wore his polo, but who knows.
Grandma’s latest:
What did the boy waffle say to the girl waffle?
I like you a waffle lot.
I would love all your best advice about “nursery nooks” and bedroom sharing. I’m preg with my first and spouse & I will need to share our main bedroom with baby for the foreseeable future. It’s a very large space, with a walk in closet and ensuite bath. I’m wondering how to optimize the space so that our being in the bedroom/bathroom won’t wake baby. Is it worth it to give our closet space & remove the door to make a little nook for the crib? That seems like a bit of a pain to me to figure out where to put all the rest of my clothes… Did you hang a curtain or similar so that you didn’t wake babe while you were getting ready for bed? All inspo for small space living welcome. Fortunately we have many square feet of living space, but no other doors with a room.
Kids fashion help! My daughter, who wears size 5T, wants long sleeve dresses that are “twirly” and “long” (which I read to mean calf-length/midi). I’m striking out in my searches for anything in my budget ($20 or belowish — these will end up coated in daycare paint). Any suggestions?
I’ve accepted that every room in my house, except maybe our master bedroom, will be full of kid stuff and is a kid free for all. We have those collapsible storage bins from target that at least put the toys (unorganized) out of sight.
Also, if anyone is curious, I just got my flu shot + Covid booster yesterday. I would say I feel not quite as bad as the second Covid shot, but worse than after the first booster I got. Grateful I can WFH today! Kids are getting their flu shots this weekend – hopefully they do ok as they haven’t had any effects before.