Color me happy

One of the keys to raising multiples is organization. And one of the keys to my organization is color-coding. At first the system was meant to help different caregivers remember which pacifier or sleepsack or sippy cup (or whatever) belonged to whom. But, as the kids have grown, having an assigned color has made it easy for each of them to readily identify his or her own backpack, toothbrush, washcloth, MunchieMug, and so much more. The kids enjoy having a sense of ownership over something (a feeling that's hard to come by when you're a quadruplet!), and I love how color-coding eliminates the need to argue over whose stuff is whose: If it's [insert color], it's gotta belong to [insert kid]!

One of the downsides to the kids getting older, though, is that some things just don't come in multiple colors anymore. I was recently lamenting this fact on Facebook when a fellow quad mom gave me a great tip: Just use different colors of electrical tape to label identical items—genius!

As a direct result of that conversation, I'm now the proud owner of four rolls of plastic tape, perfect for color-coding mock Crocs (the kids all wear different shoe sizes):

And Radio Flyer tricycles (adjusted for each rider's height):

Now I don't have to sort out which pink shoes belong to which girl, or which red trike belongs to which boy. The kids just grab their colors and go. What a time saver!

Something I know I won't have to label with my fancy new tape, though, are the kids' preschool folders. This year I tipped off their new teacher to our color-coding system before school started, and she gave each kid a take-home folder in "their" color (or as close to it as possible). The kids are tickled pink—way to score bonus points, Miss M!