Hurricane Trevor

We try to keep our house pretty tidy. Both Chad and I enjoy being able to find things when we are looking for them, and neither of us are very fond of clutter. We have a pretty decent toy management system, whereby stuff gets stored in big baskets on big shelves. Clara and Trevor were born into our little basket universe, so they generally stick to the system, and seem to appreciate neatness as well. Of course, Clara is the standout on this one...she doesn't want anyone to move anything that she has touched. I think that's how tonight's little battle began. It's not the battle that's important, though, but rather the end result (seen here):

No, we did not have an earthquake. This was all Trevor. Apparently, he was grumpy. He and Clara were playing in her room, and they decided to have an overreaction competition about something or other; trying to outdo one another with dramatics and decibels. I told them that they needed to take a 5-minute break from one another, and play alone in their respective rooms. When I came to release them from their shackles 5 minutes later, Trevor's baskets were empty. So were his puzzle boxes, a couple of plastic bins, and his laundry hamper. Emptiest of all? His apology. "Sorry, Mummy! I was so grumpy that I had to make a big mess, but you can just clean it up."

Uncharted territory with Trevi...we've never had impulse control issues, and he has never started wildly dumping out everything in sight before this....So he did what any remorseful and clearly guilty 4-year-old would do: He ran into the living room to 'hide'.
Since he made it clear that he was not in the mood to clean up, I gave him two choices.
1. He could help me put the toys and clothes back where they belonged.
2. He could help me put the toys and clothes into bags for Goodwill, so we could give them to children who would take care of them, and not dump them all over the floor.

Thank goodness he fell for it and went for the "let's not give away hundred of dollars worth of stuff just out of stubbornness" option. That would have been a bummer. So I supervised while the baskets once again found their sense of purpose. And Trevor told me that the next time he gets grumpy and feels like dumping out baskets, he's only going to dump out the stuff he doesn't really want anymore. Hmmm. What do you do when your kids begin to outsmart you? :)