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Well, we’re not REAL Pirates, and they don’t wear POLKA dots. But they do wear dots on the inside of their clothing. This is an old trick that my neighbor told me about after our third Pirate was born. Most of you probably know it, but if you don’t know it and you have several Pirates or several Princesses, you are gonna hug my neck for telling you.
First get out the Standard Issue Mom Equipment Black Sharpie Permanent Marker. Keep this in your apron pocket while you process your children’s laundry. As you fold their clean clothes you’re gonna mark them to identify what belongs to whom. Make dots on the inside of the clothes so that the marks won’t be seen when the item is being worn, but in a conspicuous location so that it is easily seen when you are folding their clothes.
Here is the system for which child gets which amount of dots.
Oldest Pirate and Princess get one dot.
Second oldest – two dots.
And so on.
I do hope that you don’t have difficulty distinguishing Pirate clothing from Princess clothing. At our house this is not a problem. And, of course, we don’t bother to dot hers, duh, she’s the only one.
But, for the Pirates, as the clothing is handed down, I add one dot. Hence, the largest Pirate has only one dot, and The Squid has a nice pattern of 5 dots in his things. Easy, huh?
The point of the marking is that it will be easier for you to quickly identify what is whose and thereby get the job done more quickly. But there is a secret benefit that will become apparent as the children get old enough to help with the laundry. They can fold and put away the laundry without needing to consult you about the identity of the owner of each and every article of clothing. More laundry freedom!
By the way, the Pirate who owns the shirts also took the photo! Didn’t he do a great job!
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These are Billy Bones’ shirts…he loves orange like Austin does!
Oh man Mother Hen – the dot system has saved my sanity! So easy to keep things sorted. My husband loves it too because he can see who owns what without having to ask. (Though he may regret knowing now – no excuses!) Only downside to the dots is that the more boys there are, the more dots you need. It’s hard on little guys to have to count so high.
As for whose shirt those are, my guess is Billy Bones, unless he’s just outgrown them and they’re about to be marked for Cannonball Jack.
I’m really sad to expose my simple-mindedness, but I’m going to have to read your post a few more times to understand this dot thing!
Just wanted to say Hi though, Mother Hen!
I sure enjoy seeing your pirates and princess – that camera must be working out pretty well?
My sister has been using my computer quite a bit, so here I sit commenting at one o’ clock in the
morning instead of posting on my blog (or sleeping, which would be smart), but you know…
It’s a hard knocks life!
Lots of love,
Momma Bug
Why of course it is Billy Bones
would have to be ol billy bones
Cute tip!!
Okay, my deductive reasoning (and a trip to the top of your blog) tells me that the owner of the t-shirts if none other than – Billy Bones!!!
Hope I’m right!
Blessings!