The Swamp

Through the keyhold. Part 2.


These are brand new warnings which have arrived on LG's door over the last 24 hours.
(The pics will all enlarge if you click on them)






(Note the slashes cut into this last one - these, I think, are supposed to represent damage inflicted by talons and/or edged weapons)

They fit rather well with her current most usual state of mind, which is more DC (Demon Child) than LG (Little Gem).


Well.
One of our Big Plans for Easter was a Spring-clean in her bedroom the swamp.

Yes.
Exactly.

(for "our Big Plan" read "My Plan" for which (with various incentives) I managed to elicit agreement from the DC)
Parenting fosters such good negotiation skills.

I quite like Spring-cleaning.
Its the explicit only-once-a-year-ness of it.

Having done too much tidying up for LG in her bedroom in the past, and with the stage of her life approaching when we are increasingly having to ignore whatever lurks behind her door, I'm trying - while there may still just be time - to make it at least feasible for her to keep it all under control.

Should she ever want to.
Just on the off-chance.

She does actually quite like it to be tidy, she just doesn't have the will to do it, or the belief that she can.

One of LG's particular problems (apart from her general slobbiness) is the sheer quantity of STUFF she has in her room.

I blame M, myself, of course (one of the useful features of husbands/partners - someone else to blame).

He has been the major purchaser over the years of animals and other [and particularly larger] toys and activities - forts, castles, dragon lego, robot dogs, space ships, armour and general weaponry.

M comes from a generous-to-a-fault family, and grew up with a mother who is extremely generous, but who had trouble making ends meet and hence no money to spare, and an exceedingly stingy and tyrannical father (he was the exception) (God rest his soul) [if he had one, which I kind of doubt].

And M has (by his own admission) found it hard to stop himself buying her just FAR TOO MUCH STUFF. Not one set of dragon lego, not 2, but 3 or 4. Not one robot dog but 2, and a robot cat.
[Better by far, of course, than a room full of Barbies.]

The animals have got particularly out of hand.
Especially as she has grown, and there is less room for them in the bed these days.
The animals merit a post all to themselves, which will follow in due course.

{I will say nothing about the books, of which I have been [and will continue to be] the main purchaser.
I do not apologise.
It is necessary to have too many books.
We can always find room for more books.}



SO - TOO MUCH STUFF and LG the DC sometimes just doesn't really know where to start, even on the odd occasion when she might want to tidy her room a bit.

Hence our Easter purge.

With the promise that I need never go into her room again if she doesn't want me to, LG was actually reasonably amenable to the purging, and worked quite hard. At least 3 large carrier bags of STUFF went into the rubbish bin. 3 or 4 large bags of GOOD STUFF were turned out for the school fair.

Here are some before/after pictures. You may imagine some of what we went through in between.

Before:

After:


Before:

After:


Before:

After:



Yes, I know she still has FAR TOO MUCH STUFF.
But, we are getting there.

She now has room to sit at - or even under - her desk.

She can now find and put away (should she ever want to - just on the off-chance) all her books.

She now has a whole shelf just for her dragon collection.

It is now possible to walk across the room without risk of stepping in bottles of ink/trays of candles and incense sticks/small and hence dangerously unnoticeable bits of lego/piles of edged weapons/unfinished projects/dragon drawings/scoobie doos/dirty pants, socks, & pajamas.

How long this will continue to be the case - who knows?


Not that I am allowed in, of course, except with explicit permission.
(I've almost learned not only to knock on the door, but also to wait for an answer)


Except at bedtime.
The DC LG does still like to be tucked into bed, with lots of hugs and kisses.