The Toy Fairy

The MOST ANNOYING thing about being a stay-at-home mom is this....

(please note-these photos were taken on a mild day)

I clean and they mess.

I organize and they "reorganize".

I tell them to clean up and they look at me like I'm an alien from another planet.

Sadly, Ryan gets the brunt of clean up duty because Kara is still too young to understand that her toys need to be put away after she throws them around the room plays with them. This is something we are working on with her. Ryan is also at an age where he likes to "ignore" and "complain" A LOT when asked to do something. It is very trying on his mother's patience...aka MY patience.

One day I decided enough was enough. I had heard about "The Toy Fairy" from a few friends and decided that she was worth a try. I sat Ryan down and explained to him that the Toy Fairy had called and she informed me that she planned to make a visit to our house to collect all toys left out during nap time that day. At first he just stared at me...again, like I was some alien from another planet. I wasn't sure if he was going to take me seriously or laugh in my face.

I mean, this child is one smart cookie.

Then he asked why she called our house? I told him that she knew that he was giving his mommy a hard time when it came to cleaning up his toys and at times, completely ignoring her requests to clean up. He then said, "OK, I will clean up." and went into the playroom. A few minutes later he ran into the kitchen and said, "hey mom, don't worry about the Toy Fairy. I locked all the doors so she can't get in!" (I told you he was a smart cookie, right?)

I then had to explain to him that it doesn't matter if the doors were locked or not. The Toy Fairy is able to get in because she has special fairy powers.

Ok, so at this point I am ready to throw in the towel because the "little white lie" is becoming way too much work to keep up!

After a little more whining and a desperate attempt at telling me that it didn't matter because Santa was coming soon anyway (seriously where does this child come up with this stuff?), the toy room was left unclean while I scooted both kiddies up for their afternoon nap.

If there is one thing I've learned in the short years as a mom, it's the fact that I have to follow through with everything and always be consistent. So when I told Ryan that the Toy Fairy was going to take ALL toys that were left on the floor...then so be it, the Toy Fairy did just that!

I didn't get a before shot of the crazy mess...here is what was left after the Toy Fairy stopped by. She decided to leave the puzzles and games behind so Ryan had something to clean up when he woke up from his nap. Wasn't that nice of her?

After nap, Ryan came running into the toy room to find that his toys were missing. Curious how he reacted? Well you are in luck, I was able to catch in photographs his many emotions....

Angry Ryan

Sad Ryan


Confused Ryan

Guess what he did next? CLEANED UP the remaining mess!

Holy Canoli, it worked. (yay!)

Soooo I continued my "little white lie" and told Ryan that the Toy Fairy told me that she would return then next day (after nap). She explained that if Ryan listened to his mommy and cleaned up, she would be more than happy to return his toys!

To my amazement, the following day Ryan cleaned up all his toys with only being told once! When he woke up from his nap, he found this waiting for him....


The note says,

"Dear Ryan,
As promised, here are your toys back.
Please continue to clean up your toys every day or I will return. Good Job today! :)
Love,
The Toy Fairy"

Ryan was SO EXCITED to find this bag of goodies! It seriously felt like Christmas in our house as he held up his toys and exclaimed how much he missed each toy.


Happy Ryan



So what did we learn?
The Toy Fairy does exist and she will return...just ask Ryan. ;)