Relinquishing Control :: Laundry

As Emilia gets older, I have tried to give her additional (age appropriate) responsibilities.  Now, with the weeks counting down to the arrival of our 2nd kiddo, I am looking for any and all chores I can have Emilia start helping with.  Lucky for me, she LOVEs to help!

My latest chore started as just somewhat appeasing her by letting her "help" while I fold clothes (then refold hers when she is off playing...)  But then I decided to fully relinquish control.  Emilia now proudly folds and puts away all her own clothes!

 

Honestly, I still cringe a little because my OCD tendencies take over.  Everything has a place and organization is key.  This is what her shirt drawer and shorts drawer look like since she has taken over putting the clothes away:

 

...not exactly as orderly as I once had them, but they are still put away!  And she is SO proud of herself.

Not to mention, it cuts down on the laundry *I* have to put away each day.  That will be wonderful once Titus is born.  I am still working on my desire to sort them back out as they once were...but, the feeling fades each day.  (O:

Sometimes little ones just need to feel important and needed.  Emilia taking pride in this chore is worth a little chaos in her dresser.

Life on This Island :: Laundry

This is the first time in my life that I haven't had a washer and dryer in my home.

(Spoiled American, I know.)

Thankfully, our little apartment building has an itsy bitsy laundry facility, with 2 washers and 2 dryers at $0.50 a pop.  The washers are older than dirt and have only the most basic settings.  (I am already worried about how cloth diapering will work with this set up...)

We have decided to primarily hand dry our laundry here.  It helps save cost and, for the most part, does well.  Jason has two lines rigged in our spare bedroom (Remember, Emilia's bed is in our room to cut a/c costs.  So the extra bedroom is basically one huge closet!)

*I think I remembered the leave the undies out of this shot...* ;-)

We also have a small line outside:

*The tricky part about the clothes on this line is if/when it rains each day, they get damp again.  So they take much longer to dry out here.  It's nice to have for overflow though.

This is our neighbor's set up.  They are probably moving off campus into their own house fairly soon...at which time I sincerely hope to inherit their rain-free zone. ;-)

Why all this talk about laundry, you ask?  Two thoughts hit me as I was doing today's loads:

1.  What a blessing a small laundry facility and hang drying is.  This means I can only do two small loads every day or two, depending on drying time.  I will never be caught up on laundry and that is A-OK!

2.  It doesn't matter if I go to retrieve me freshly cleaned clothes while it is raining outside.  They are just going to hang dry upstairs anyway!

Now, how is THAT for optimism?! Maybe I am adopting more of the "island mentality" than I realized. ;-)