“Is this the new house?” “I can’t find it! I think it’s at the old house.”
Just a few of the phrases heard around our home these days. We have pretty much completed our DITY (Do IT Yourself) move. Regardless of what the children think, nothing is left at the old house. Although we did convienently lose DD3’s Princess phone, because I swear, if I hear Cinderella coo “Oh, I wish I could dance all night!” one more time, I may wind up in the psyc ward. (not to worry, though… I found a Minnie Mouse flip phone that is much better! All Minnie wants to do is “say hi!” and tell you the “friends are all headed to the beach.” I can live with that.)
I call this the “practice move.” Because we are due to PCS in February, and truthfully I was concerned about how they would handle moving. But actually… I feel the need to praise my kids. They have all handled this move exceptionally well. Much better than I had anticipated considering the younger ones have never known another address. I think it helps that this house is the same, yet different from the other one. It also helps that we have moved next door to friends, into a neighborhood FULL of kids!
The big guy has been a great help. He’s helped pack boxes, he’s helped by watching over his brother and sister (read: playing with them in his room so they stay out of mom and dad’s way). He’s been patient with mom and dad as we try to get everything unpacked (his computer is still in it’s box. Hopefully later this week we can get it out.)
The diva-licous daughter has been helpful by refraining from her normally scheduled diva-tudes. She’s been especially helpful by helping Mommy clean the new house. She’s also been extremely good at questions about everything. “Mommy, why do we have a new house?” “Mommy, is S—e at our new house?” (our friend’s son) “Mommy, what’s her/his name?” “Mommy, why are you pulling your hair out like that?”
The baby, who really isn’t a baby anymore yet I can’t seem to stop calling him that, has been great about finding dead bugs and pointing them out for us. *S* He also has really picked up on the talking thing, and has been wonderful about asking, “MOM! Ka! Peas!” (that’s “Cup! Please!” for the toddler impaired). He seems amazingly unaffected now that all his stuff is actually here. He did have a few days there when were living at house #1, but bringing things to house #2. He freaked just a tad and seemed to think that Mom would disappear at night along with all the boxes. BUT! Once we brought him to house #2, and he found all his missing toys, he did better. For the first few days that we were here, he needed the door open at night so that he could make sure Mom was still here ok. But after just one week in our new house, he was totally fine. Still a bit confused sometimes about where his room is, but no longer worried that mom and dad will disappear.
The kids have made new friends already. There are roughly 16-18 kids in our little “block” of 12 houses, 56 of them from one family! Thing is, every last one of these kids are kind, caring, and respectful. They all look out for the littler kids, and share with each other, and organize games, and just have a blast!
We’re mostly unpacked already. Life is starting to settle into a routine. We’ve finally started school again, although, admittedly, DS5 and I are having a bit of a struggle to get back into the school routine. We are having to re-arrange how we did things based on the furniture arrangment in our new house. But we’re getting there.
As moves go… this one went well. Though not quite as smooth as I had hoped, better than expected.