As I mentioned, we cleared out the attic on Monday night after FHE. What I didn't mention was that I made the girls come up with me to help out, and help out they did!
We had a few mishaps along the way. For instance, Rachel, who was quite timid up there and found the whole experience slightly traumatizing, was passing a box down to Andrew but was too afraid to close enough to the hole in the ceiling to actually reach him. So she just...dropped it.
He tried to catch it/shield himself but it ended up hitting him, sending him sprawling, and then crashed on the floor (busting a corner of the box in the process).
It wasn't a great experience, but the good news is that things only went up from there. And we learned a lot about communication (because remember how I would say, "Do you have it?" and Dad would say, "Ok, go it," before I let go of any boxes? That's called communication).
Miriam surprised me by being very brave. She was so comfortable getting right over the hole to lower boxes down that she was making me nervous. I was afraid she was going to end up tumbling through the hole (with her box) on top of Andrew. I had to tell her to not lean her whole entire little self over the hole.
She was—rather excitedly—climbing back in the shelving unit and pushing boxes to the front and then hopping down to help heft it off the shelf. Rachel was climbing back in the shelving unit to help maneuver boxes around but she took a little more coaxing/prodding/threatening.
"No, you will go back there with your sister. It won't break. I was just in there and I'm much heavier than you. All the heavy boxes we already took out were in there as well. You are just one little girl; you won't be the straw that breaks the camel's back (or the shelf or what have you). You'll be fine, I promise. Seriously, get in there and help your sister now."
It's great to have such big, capable helpers now.
Even if one was too brave and the other too timid.
Or, what if it's not them? Maybe it's me.
I will never be satisfied.
For example, now that "empty the attic" is crossed off our intimidatingly long to-do list, I'm a little dissatisfied by the maze of boxes that have taken over our house. But, oh, well. It needed to get done and it's giving me plenty of time to go through the contents to make sure we really want to keep what's inside.
We had a few mishaps along the way. For instance, Rachel, who was quite timid up there and found the whole experience slightly traumatizing, was passing a box down to Andrew but was too afraid to close enough to the hole in the ceiling to actually reach him. So she just...dropped it.
He tried to catch it/shield himself but it ended up hitting him, sending him sprawling, and then crashed on the floor (busting a corner of the box in the process).
It wasn't a great experience, but the good news is that things only went up from there. And we learned a lot about communication (because remember how I would say, "Do you have it?" and Dad would say, "Ok, go it," before I let go of any boxes? That's called communication).
Miriam surprised me by being very brave. She was so comfortable getting right over the hole to lower boxes down that she was making me nervous. I was afraid she was going to end up tumbling through the hole (with her box) on top of Andrew. I had to tell her to not lean her whole entire little self over the hole.
She was—rather excitedly—climbing back in the shelving unit and pushing boxes to the front and then hopping down to help heft it off the shelf. Rachel was climbing back in the shelving unit to help maneuver boxes around but she took a little more coaxing/prodding/threatening.
"No, you will go back there with your sister. It won't break. I was just in there and I'm much heavier than you. All the heavy boxes we already took out were in there as well. You are just one little girl; you won't be the straw that breaks the camel's back (or the shelf or what have you). You'll be fine, I promise. Seriously, get in there and help your sister now."
It's great to have such big, capable helpers now.
Even if one was too brave and the other too timid.
Or, what if it's not them? Maybe it's me.
I will never be satisfied.
For example, now that "empty the attic" is crossed off our intimidatingly long to-do list, I'm a little dissatisfied by the maze of boxes that have taken over our house. But, oh, well. It needed to get done and it's giving me plenty of time to go through the contents to make sure we really want to keep what's inside.
Oops I am sorry about that.😅😕
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