TOY STORY Was A Bad Idea...

(not toys sent away)

B is at the stage where she is asking for EVERYTHING right now. Unfortunately that is not an exaggeration. When a commercial comes on tv, she asks for it. Then the next. She has even asked for hair shampoo.I tell her that she needs to stop asking and she always says 'This is the last one'. And then the next commercial: 'Except for this, too.'

I take it in stride. I know it's a temporary phase, and she knows she's not going to get everything she sees or wants. I also tell her that to get more stuff, she needs to play with the things she has. Her toy box has been filled with unplayed-with items since we moved back to Texas, and it was exhausting just thinking about Christmas and what else we were going to bring into the house.

So finally, Cary and I cleaned out her toy box this past weekend. The small things, like the cheap Easter basket fillers were easy to decide on. But it was the stuffed animals that I really struggled with. Not only am I a mourning mommy that wants her small baby back, but I have also seen Toy Story one too many times.

Each stuffed animal I picked up I had to tell them that they were going to go to a new home where they would be played with by a child that loved them. Then I would stare at them for a moment, wondering if I could truly let go. It was Cary gently prying them from my hands that helped the progress. And now they haunt me.

They are probably singing 'When She Loved Me' right now.

Excuse me. I have a Goodwill to go raid.