Life's Little Checklists
Packing our small family of four for a vacation is more challenging than running any cross-functional team project I handled in my pre-kids professional life. JavaGirl is busy trying to fill the suitcase with plastic and rubber animals. JavaBoy is packing his own suitcase with necessities like underwear and video games, but no actual clothes. And JavaDad, bless him, well, he usually hasn't even made sure everything has made it through the laundry room 2 hours before launch time. I walk through the house, muttering to myself about what I'm trying to retrieve from another room when someone will call out to ask me a question, have me break up a sibling fight, or come up with a theory for eliminating global hunger, or some other distraction. Somehow, I never manage to get enough time alone in the house to pack without the revolving chaos I lovingly call my family. This is why I can't survive Vacation without The Lists.
For years I have lived off my personal packing checklist. The first one I created over a decade ago, to make sure I remembered everything (especially various laptop cables and cords) when traveling for business. All it took was one ill-fated weekend "getaway" with a snoring JavaDad who had "forgotten" his sleep apnea CPAP machine for me to create his own, personalized version of the checklist. Nothing says loving like not smothering your husband... that's all I'm saying.
When JavaBoy, our first bundle of joy, came onto the scene, he also seemed to come with a lot of additional bundles --- which required adding yet another list — diapers, wipes (I averaged out how many per day so I could pack appropriately per trip), diaper pad, bottles, nipples, bottle brush, disposable pre-soaped dishcloths, the bouncy seat, the travel swing and on and on and on. As he moved through stages, I kept updating the list, adding items (oh what a joy traveling with a baby newly eating solids is) and deleting (sippy cups were so much easier than bottles!) items to reflect his current milestones.
Today, I opened JavaGirl's packing list and realized instantly that it's been a while since we took a trip as it still listed Pull-Ups and a potty seat and other potty-training accouterments. It was only September and yet that seems like a world away. As JavaGirl will proudly proclaim to anyone within shoutin distance — she's a Big Girl now and she's been potty trained for quites some time. Delete, delete, delete. Eliminating a few rows and suddenly, I realized just how grown-up my daughter -- our youngest and last child -- is becoming. The baby monitor is still on the packing checklist just for when we go to the large beach house we share with other families and I want to be sure I know if my kids wake up while we're playing board games on another floor. But slowly, all the "baby" things have come off the list. Fewer and fewer items distinguish their packing lists from ours. The car seats are still on there. I still list the stroller although we don't really use it, but just so we can debate whether to bring one or not. Each kid has a favorite stuffed animal, but basically, their checklists look like ours, "Shirts, shorts, shoes, toothbrush, toothpaste...."
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