Both my children are currently in transition. Xander will be 4 in April and while some things about him are still toddler-like (specifically his language skills; another day, another post) he is becoming a "real" boy. Arya is almost 16 months old now. She’s not a baby anymore, but not quite what I’d consider a toddler either. I haven’t yet figured out what to do with Arya’s room when Baby Aliza comes; I’m going to give her a few more weeks to grow up a bit before I start making decisions.

But Xander needed a change immediately. He no longer takes a daily nap, so we have what we call “room time”: 60-90 minutes a day where he can do anything he wants as long as it’s quiet and in his room. While waiting for spackling and paint to dry last week, I decided to tackle the issue of how to give Xander some freedoms of an older child but within limits for his age.

We don’t have any "extra" rooms, so a playroom is not an option for us. I’m also a firm believer that if toys can’t fit neatly into my kids’ rooms then they have too much stuff.

A lot of toys in Xander’s room were no longer age appropriate, so we gave them to Arya. With all our guests over the holidays, his toys had started to creep into the living room, so they needed to get sent back to his bedroom. He also had a 2-shelf bookcase in his room that was no longer big enough for our needs. Xander goes to half-day preschool three days a week, but the rest of the time he is unofficially home schooled (I have yet to decide how he’ll be schooled at 5 so I’m doing both right now but again, another day, another post). Because all of my and Rob’s books are still in boxes, and probably will be for quite some time, I stole an empty shelf and gave it to Xander.

The result is a room that is much more functional for a preschooler, and it cost me nothing. I tried to make sure that there is nothing in the the room that can permanently mark or stain. The worst that can happen as Xander is playing alone is that he creates a pile of toys to put away.

Corner 1:

Corner 2:

Corner 3:

Corner 4:

Because of all the space opened up by SuperPantry, I was able to move all of Xander’s jigsaws, messy toys, and other things he needs to ask for into the hall closet, which is still a work in progress.

Because I’ll have my hands full with the girls in 3 months, I tried to help Xander be more independent in the kitchen. I put all the kids’ plates and cups in a low cabinet so Xander can help himself. The new pantry has a drawer where I’ll keep pre-made snack bags that Xander can take. The next step, happening this week, is to organize the fridge so Xander can reach snack bags with his fruits and veggies. I don’t have fatty foods in the house, period. We rarely have sodas around. I keep everything as organic or natural as we can afford; nothing artificial for the kids. And I don’t keep juice or milk within Xander’s reach in fridge so that if he’s thirsty his only option is water.

With our new arrangement, Xander feels like a big boy, and I am more free to help Arya.