in my room...

I'm not sure exactly when it happened. Or why even. But one day, not so long ago, Gage became terrified of his room. He started asking me to pick out his clothes and then he started sleeping in his little sister's trundle bed. I never really argued or questioned it. (Heck, him sleeping in his sister's room actually made her stay in bed all night rather than running to me at 4am.) The sad thing was, really, that Gage has the best room in the house. His sister's room is a shoebox next to his so why was it sitting there virtually unused... and what could I do about it?

We talked about it occasionally but still, I never pushed. Then, when the time was right, I made an offer. A desk. Any desk he wanted. (See, this killed two big fat crows with one itty bitty stone because the desk would also serve to relieve the constantly growing piles of books & journals overtaking the dining room table). He seemed to like the idea so I ran with it.

I printed a half a dozen tear sheets from various websites with prices ranging from $107 to over a grand. I put them in front of him. He chose the $107 desk. We were on a roll!

I hightailed it to Ikea this morning and purchased the desk, complete with a swivel chair, book holders, picture frame & lamp. I thought he was going to be over the moon when he came home from school and saw the boxes. Yeah, not so much. The Nintendo was pretty enticing though.

Fast forward five hours. It's bed time and I can't get him to leave the desk. He is in his room ALONE writing math problems in a sketch book. Everything is arranged perfectly. He has already organized four of the five drawers and he has grand ideas for how he will use the new environment. He even asked to sleep in his own bed tonight. Would have worked too if the dog hadn't peed in it moments earlier. So he said goodnight to the desk (yes, he really did) and headed once again to his sister's trundle with visions of homework dancing in his head.

Now I sit here wondering what to do when Zuzu asks to sleep in Gage's room tomorrow night or where in the world the desk will go in her little shoebox...