Amelie's Clothes

For several days we've been wondering "Where on Earth will Amelie's clothes go?" She'll be staying with us, in our room for a year until we decide on a new sleeping arrangement for the younger boys, or have the attic renovated. The latter is preferable. Until then, we have plenty of room for her bed and a small chair. We have no room in our closet or dressers for her clothes, so I've been stumped until last evening. I opened the bottom drawer of the hall storage cabinet and it dawned on me she would have plenty of room there for a basic wardrobe. Right now it's almost empty with only a few photo albums. The other drawers and cabinets have blankets and sheets in them, but the bottom drawer has never been used much. And boy, is it a long, deep and wide drawer!

When we first looked at this house 7-8 years ago that set of hall drawers thrilled me. I always loved old hall drawers and cabinets like these. Now they will be used for something very, very special. We need to start using the bottom drawer now because Amelie's little dresses need a place to stay. Anything stored in them absorbs that wonderful 'old wood' smell, so I love pulling blankets out after they've been in there a while.

As for her wardrobe, I plan on using Waldorf/Rudulf Steiner recommendations for a very basic supply. Depending upon the season, I believe for toddler girls it's something like: 2 pairs of blue jeans, 2 slacks, 4 dresses, 2 skirts, 2 pairs of tights, 10 pairs of socks, 1 pair sneakers, 1 pair of dress shoes, 1 pair of rain boots, 1 pair of sandals, 7-10 shirts and 2-3 cardigan sweaters. They are all supposed to be in a general color theme or color category for mix 'n' matching...right now she has a lot of varying plums and purples. The numer of clothes is supposed to be enough for two weeks worth of different combinations/outfits while doing laundry 1x/week. It's so easy to go overboard with children's clothing because we see things in stores, say "awwww, isn't that nice?" and buy them impulsively without taking inventory. Before we know it, drawers and closets are stuffed and the kids have a hard time making choices with too many options. I have noticed with my boys that by cutting down options, getting dressed is a much easier and less stressful task. Not to mention they do great at folding their own laundry when its fewer items. If I end up buying more than what is needed, I have stored some for a couple of months and cycled them out for interest, and it still keeps things simple. This all sounds very "organized" for me, but I've found, for an organizationally challenged mom, nothing has been better than simplifying my children's wardrobes.

We're also considering these cloth diapers. The girl I watch on weekdays wears these marvelous, modern all cotton diapers with snaps and a cover. I'm amazed at how well they fit and absorb. The footprint left on the environment is far less than disposables, and the money savings is significant. I tried using cloth diapers on Sorin in 1991-92 and it was a disaster....they were the rectangular cloths we now use for spit up only. I had to use pins, and they leaked all the time. I can't say enough about how far they've come with cloth and the ease of them.

Here is the link to the specific "fitted diapers" we're looking at. I love where it reads: "Beautifully textured fabrics to help contain even the runniest poop" because I have found this to be so true!