If you read yesterday’s blog post then you have two of the three relevant facts you need for today’s. One, my kids are in Iowa with their grandparents and my husband and I are still at home. Two, we celebrate Chanukah and Christmas and so together with birthdays and random other occasions we have more toys than most preschools. The third fact you need to know for today is that I am not in the office. Technically I’m working, I’m on call for the practice and the hospital, but I don’t have office hours, so I’m at home.
So, obviously, the first thing I did this morning was sleep in. And that was glorious. I can’t remember the last time I slept until 9:00 with no interruptions by little people.
Then I decided this would be the perfect day to weed through the boys’ toys in anticipation of all the new ones we’ll be bringing home next week. I hate this job in general and that’s probably why there are so many toys, books, clothes, etc that still need to be gone through.
I got a lot done, but faced a dilemma I haven’t had in the past. What do I do with the toys Eric gave them? Some of them, like the light sabers, are clearly still treasured items and I wouldn’t have planned to donate them anyway. But what about the stack of cardboard bricks the boys absolutely never play with and haven’t in years? How about the alien rocket ship set that never even got fully put together to begin with? Ugh. How can I get rid of stuff from him when the boys will never get anything else from him? I was not anticipating this to be an emotional task, but it was.
In the end, I compromised. The alien rocket ship thing that had large parts scattered throughout multiple toy bins had to go. It was taking up too much storage space and wasn’t even functional. The bricks, however, stayed. They are stacked neatly out of the way against the wall and who knows, maybe the boys will develop an interest in building, or maybe someday the new little one will.
Those bricks were also Eric’s favorite toys as a child (second possibly only to Lego’s) so the emotional connection for me was much greater with those than with the alien thing. I’ll probably still have those when the boys are all out of the house. Oh well, maybe someday they’ll have kids who want them.
My kids tell me to get rid of things. I CAN'T do it! I have kept so many of their toys from childhood. But, guess what? My granddaughter,Riese just loves to go into the attic and pick something out to play with. It always comes with a story about who played with it and how much they enjoyed it. I say if you have the room, what does it hurt. Honestly, when Riese brings something down to play with, my adult children's eyes smile, remembering that same toy. Keep whatever you want, you'll be glad you did.
ReplyDeleteI also have this problem when it comes to gifts that my mom gave to my daughters. A lot of the presents are either froofy girly outfits that are all kinds of extravagant ridiculousness, or they are too-fancy stuffed animals that the kids have no interest in. I don't like or want this stuff, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteThat is, except for the onesie with garish pink satin bows sewed all over it. Because come on, maybe she was just kidding with that one. :) xo.