Closet Migration

When I had just Ivy, closet migration was easy. Babies generally have to move up in size every three months. I'd pull out the old size, pack it up, insert the new size in the closet and drawers, and the job was done. After she turned a year old, closet migration happened every 6 months.....then she was two and it was only going to happen once a year. In the summer and the winter, I would replace the clothes that were too small.

But then I had Story. In a different season than I'd had Ivy. It was a mad dash for all those old boxes of clothes that I remember carefully labeling and placing gently in the attic. Unfortunately, when I got them down, I realized that I had gremlins in the attic or I'd done a really bad job of labeling and placing the same sizes in the box.

They shared a closet in our old house, so it was a matter of pulling stuff out, placing the new size in, rearranging where the clothes were, and going out to buy stuff to replace the stuff I thought I had but never found. And by purchasing new clothes, I inspired the baby clothes gods to make the box of what I was missing materialize seconds after I didn't need it anymore.

Now they have separate closets. And where Ivy is generally the size of whatever age she is, Story is NOT. (How did I get such a difficult child?) I pull out all of Story's clothes in the closet and drawers. I go through each item, and most of them I have to try on her. By the way, having a three year old at the ready for 2 hours to try on clothes is not conducive to a peaceful day.

When I have made the keep and attic piles, I put everything away. All of the clothes fit, and the closet looks empty.

Then, I move to Ivy's closet. I take everything out and assess what fits and what does not. I put things into three piles: keep, move to Story's closet, and OMG I can't send my child out in this nor can I give it away.

All of the clothes that Story might grow in to in the next ten years are placed in bags and boxes and stored in the top of her closet, waiting for me to look at 6 months from now and say, "What the heck are those clothes up there for?"

The clothes that still fit Ivy are placed back in her closet and dresser (which look really bare now!) and reorganized.

And I'm left with a small pile that I have no idea what to do with. If I was crafty, I'd make purses or doll clothes or something. But I'm not. I always think I could use them for dusting, but I have plenty of old underwear dust rags. Who needs a pair of khakis with grass-stained knees to clean? I eventually throw them away, but I almost cry doing it. I hate wasting stuff.

And I'm left with a really clean, minimal closet, a closet that's stuffed full of future clothes, and four thousand boxes and bags to haul up to the office where they will sit for a month before I get up the courage-nerve-gumption to tackle finding a place for them in the attic.

And so ends closet migration.