Every parent faces it, cringes when walking into the room, curses over the tripping over it, and secretly thinks of putting them out for the trash. Yep, I'm talking about toys. TOYS!!! They're the bane of our existence. Don't get me wrong....we love our kids and want them to have toys and to be happy. But you watch them slowly take over your house, rendering you powerless. You try to fight back, get rid of some of them or at least put half of them away to be switched out later. Ever try to do that with your toddler present? HA! Half of what you box up ends up getting trotted back out when your back is turned. You start to dread Christmas and any other gift-giving occasions. If the influx of new toys doesn't get you, the overabundance of packaging will surely do you in. My basement looks like a cardboard recycling plant!
With Will's birthday being last Wednesday, it's been a week of endless party! (Again, Happy Third Birthday, Sweetheart!) We hosted a birthday party yesterday that was a huge success, with pizza, cake and a pinata. Will received some lovely gifts and I am fortunate to have great friends. In cleaning up the house during Will's naptime today, Brian and I tag-teamed the family room together. Toys everywhere! (Lots of happy kids yesterday at our house) So, in our united front with about two hours before Will gets up, we waged war at the toys. Brian filled bins and brought them to me at the couch (no crawling on the floor for me these days) and I sorted them in the "keep", "put away" and "trash" piles. "Keep" was sorted back into the empty bins and toy boxes. "Put away" was stashed in boxes and traipsed down to the basement for Will's little brother to play with later, or to be switched around with "keep" stuff later. And trash well, was trash.
Some of the things in those bins were interesting finds! For example, LOTS of sandbox toys and other outside toys made it into the house that we didn't even realize. We sent a big pail back out to the shed filled with shovels, balls and bubble wands. Another big pail of bath toys went back to the bathroom. Other odd non-toy finds: Mom's hairclips, TV remote, lint roller.... Other things that are definitely Will's but won't be stored in toys anymore: finger paint and playdough. Especially playdough, our vacuum doesn't like picking it out of the rug!
By the time Will had gotten up from his nap, Mommy and Daddy had completed their task and were pleased with their (temporary) victory. We opened up birthday presents and put them away to be played with. And celebrated by painting with Will at the newly de-cluttered table and chair set. Wahoo!!! Let's see how long it stays that way.
1 comment:
it's too funny what ends up where...the other day I pulled out my checkbook from my purse and found a playfood pepper in there. Liv informed me it was for daddy if he needed a snack!
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