The Dot System

If I only had one child, I wonder how easy it would be... only one set of small socks to sort in the laundry, only one size of outerwear, only one pair of mittens... Somehow, having three calls for new systems of organization that are still in development, at least at our house. Like clothes for instance. Annika's are fairly easy to sort - pink, flowers, girly stuff - straightforward. But when it comes to the boys, I can't count the mornings I have sent them to school in each others' pants. I look up as they walk away, Christopher in a pair of pants rolled up at the bottom, and Benjamin looking like he is prepared for the next flood.

My cousin has three girls, and she told me about her dot system - one dot for the oldest, two for the second one, and three for the third. That way, you can easily pass things down just by adding a dot. So now we have dots. One for Annika, two for Benjamin and three for Christopher. And in general, it works fine. Benjamin, quite frankly, really doesn't care what he wears, but Christopher is totally on board - so much so that he refuses to wear anything that doesn't have three dots. As I haven't quite attacked their entire wardrobe with the marking pen - yet - it has led to some interesting mornings as I go off rushing for the pen before presenting Christopher with a wardrobe suggestion. I bought fleeces for the boys yesterday, two sizes, and Christohper required some proof that his fleece was indeed his before putting it on. After a frantic search for a ball point pen, he was finally ready to go.