Can I just talk about toys really quick? Yes, toys. Those things that you spend a million dollars on through out the year, only to collect the fragments of remaining parts in a fit of rage and slam them in a trash bag after breaking your foot one to many times just a few months after buying them. Is this just me? I typically keep my house pretty clean. Every day I pick up the livingroom, dining room, wipe down counters, toilets, etc…. but there’s ONE room down stairs I try not to acknowledge. THE PLAYROOM. I’m not even sure if i remember what color the carpet is in that room, but it serves as a sanctuary for my kids, who will go mountain climbing to get to a toy in the far back corner of the room, and they know EXACTLY where everything is, even if you cant see it. It’s their space. Their organized chaos. Ask Gabes where a certain blue hot wheels car is, and I guarantee he will tell you it’s in the far corner of the playroom under the swing, inside the ball pit, next to the iron man mask. This room sends my anxiety into over drive and sometimes I just can’t take it anymore. That “sometimes” was today. I woke up early and decided to clean the playroom. Shouldn’t take long, right? The boys were all still asleep. The first toy I touched was a Vampirina microphone that started blasting music louder than most speakers at a concert. I finally figured out how to turn it off after praying and frantically banging it against the floor, and I hear it. “Mama!” from the room next door. Uggghhh. It’s ok. I’ll get them up and they can play while i clean. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I seriously never learn. I brought them into the playroom and we all found a spot to sit that I cleared out by shoving toys in every direction until I saw carpet. I started sorting things into piles. Cars, blocks, trains, superheros, etc. However, every toy I added to its designated pile, was quickly moved to a different pile. I’d return it to its pile and try to speed up. Maybe I could out clean them? One of my piles was designated for garbage. Those broken toys, things never played with, markers with no tops, etc. I hid this pile, and luckily it remained untouched. I tried to encourage them to help by singing the clean up song. This didn’t go over well either. Everything I grabbed, became a precious jewel in the eyes of all 3 of my boys and a fight ensued. I would distract one with a different toy while the one that got to it first played with the toy that I uncovered. This went on for a while before I realized that the toys I was uncovering, were toys that I had already put into piles earlier, and they somehow got mixed back in the unorganized heap. I decided to give each of the boys a toy and move them into the livingroom to play. Once they were content, I tip-toed back to the playroom and cleaned like I had never cleaned before. This idea bought me a good 10 minutes before 3 boys were peeking their heads back into the playroom. Their eyes got big as they noticed something they haven’t seen in a while. The floor! Matthew wasn’t sure he wanted to even touch the newly discovered terrain and cried from the doorway until I picked him up. The other two spun in circles as if trying to locate their items that I had moved. Then, Gabriel spotted it. The garbage pile. The only remaining pile in the room which also happened to contain all of his “favorite toys”. The broken ones that he hasn’t played with in at least a year. “What’s this pile?” He asked in a shaky voice. He knew, and his eyes were sad. “Oh. That’s just the things I haven’t put away yet.” Relief washed over him and he told me how glad he was that I wasn’t going to throw away his toys. Ughhh. Now what?! Of coarse, I left the pile and told him that I would just put them away tonight after they were in bed so that they wouldn’t have to help me, as I hid the trash bag behind my back. So now I am laying in the floor of a semi-clean playroom, while my kids play with marker lids, wheels that have been broken off cars, and wadded up balls of paper. The trash bag is hidden under the dresser and it will be filled with “all their favorite things” tonight, but for now, I’ll let them enjoy playing with trash. At least they aren’t dragging out the toys.