Over the past few weeks, I’ve been packing our trunk full of things to bring back to Orange County. We’re going to be flying out of the Orange County airport when we leave for Chicago. So we’ll likely do all our packing here. Decide what we want to keep at home (in OC) and decide what we want to take with us.

So, I’ve been hauling everything from the apartment – bit by bit – that we haven’t been using.

Luckily, we rented furniture this year. So we don’t have to think about moving any big items. And we didn’t have THAT much to begin with (we got rid of SO MANY things when we left Tennessee). Now we’re down to a handful of items at this point. Dishes. Toys. Books. You name it. I’ve packed it.

This is all that’s left of Ishaan’s toys and books.

A tiny little corner.

And the crazy thing is that he is absolutely not lacking. He is still very much entertained by what’s left. 

There was a study from the University of Toledo that I heard about. It found that an abundance of toys actually REDUCES the quality of play. That kids are more creative and focused when they have less. And it makes so much sense.

I have seen what happens when he is around too many objects.

He’ll pick up a ball. Throw it across the room. And, on his way to go pick it up, he’ll get distracted by something else. Then it’s 2 seconds with that toy. And then there’s another one by his feet. So he’ll pick that up and play with that one. 

But with fewer things at his disposal, he uses them all. For a long time. Over and over and over again.

The other day, he was using a spiral slide. But, instead of pushing the ball down and watch it roll down the slide, he attempted to put a wooden block down the opening. And then it got stuck. And it took him a minute or two to pull it out.

Then he took what was left of his string cheese and stuck it in the opening. And he stared at it for a few seconds. Took it out and tried again. Watched it for a little while more.

I sat back, watching him process what was happening. I took a quick video to show Ankur when he got home from work.

Later, I uploaded the 10 second clip to Instagram. Someone replied to the story and said, “This is the moment you will look back on when he gets his PhD in engineering.”

I loved that the most.

I mean, who knows what his future will hold? But I do notice that with less available to him, he dives in deep. And, in the process, discovers more about the world and how to solve problems and navigate the things around him. 

So, as we’re about to embark on another move, I’m using it as an opportunity to get rid of the excess.

The less he has, the better. 

After all, we’re learning that less is, in fact, more.