Too Many Options!

We have this very independent two year-old living here and because of that, this is what her dressers look like now. Since Miss Lexi learned to dress herself, she decided that there was nothing wrong with changing her clothes 5-6 times a day. Now, we don't try to stifle independence with the girls and encourage them to learn new things. It has been particularly fun with Lexi since there is still a lot for her to learn in this big world. She has learned how to put on her own shoes (she knows left from right), change her own pull-up (potty training....that's a whole other story) and especially learning how to communicate. However, when it came to changing her clothes so many times a day and the dirty laundry pile getting bigger and bigger, drastic measures had to be taken.

So, as the photos show above, we locked Lexi out of her drawers. Grandpa did a great job, don't you think? When she first saw this, she was upset but that didn't stop her. Did I say that she is very smart....well, she is and she managed to figure out how to get into one of the drawers and came running out of the bedroom with some new clothes; ready to change. Grandpa wasn't going to let a two year-old get the best of him so he revamped his barriers a little and stopped her once more. Now mommy picks out an outfit at the beginning of the day and locks the drawers back up until bedtime to get pajamas.

She also has the habit of changing her shoes umteen times a day. Well, Grandma decided to change that. I asked Shelly to pick out three pairs of shoes that she usually wears, went through her shoe basket (yes, she has her own shoe basket) and pulled the rest and hid them. Some of them didn't even fit her anymore and she would just get frustrated trying to jam her feet into them so they needed to go anyway. The look on her face was priceless when she looked in her basket and saw just four other shoes in there. She had her third pair on her feet at the time.

Then came her sippy cups. She had way too many. We could stand there waiting FOREVER for her to pick out the one that she wanted to have. After a while, you got to the point of just wanting to throw them at her but I really don't condone using violence on children even though they are just plastic and wouldn't leave marks. I went through them, picked out her favorite one and four others that I could find matching tops for. The rest....yep, got put in a plastic bag and thrown in the garage on a rummage sale pile.

Grandpa has a explanation for all of this and it comes down to just three words.  TOO MANY OPTIONS!! Toddlers (and even older kids) don't need a lot of options. They will adjust to less if they need to or you can let them have a hundred different options and have turmoil in the house!

I agree Grandpa!