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. ;)

Mommy Tips

Today was supposed to be a post about our vacation at the lake but unfortunately that post will have to wait. This morning my darling son decided to do something that almost caused me to cry out loud....something every mother hopes won't happen to her. Instead of crying, screaming or worse, going ballistic on him- I decided to take a picture and deal with the issue as calmly as possible. You know about the "Ryan Funnies"...well this one is called Ryan NOT Funny!

We all know what happened when I trusted Ryan downstairs by himself (yes, why would I trust a almost 3 year old!?? I ask myself this everyday.), so he has been locked up upstairs whenever I am up there. I feel so bad for having him locked up in his room during the day that at night, we leave the gate open so he can come over to our room if he needs us. His room is the furthest from our room now so I worry that I won't be able to hear him. I also make sure all the doors are closed to the other rooms to be "on the safe side" including his bathroom.

I woke up at 6am this morning to feed Kara and to my surprise (almost stepped on him!) found Ryan lying on the floor next to my side of the bed! I don't know if he even tried to wake me up or just decided to sleep there?! So Chris took him back to bed. I fed Kara, got everything ready for breakfast and went back to bed. When I woke an hour later, Ryan was smiling as he ran out of our bathroom. Crap. What was he doing up early again and what trouble did he find this time I asked myself? I would soon find out and trust me, it wasn't "pretty"....

I know you are all sitting there with you mouths opened wide and in disbelief...but yes, that's my make-up and yes, it is on my expensive glider! See the reddish stains? Yes, that's lipstick. And that yellow tube on the right hand side? Yes, that's a highlighter. Not sure where he got that...can only imagine where Chris left it last. *sigh*

It took several hours and lots of elbow grease to get it cleaned up. Thank God my cousin, Sahira, came over after her class. She kept him busy and away from me the rest of the morning.

So why the title? Well...just in case you find yourself in a similar situation, I wanted you all to know how I got it cleaned. I hope you never have to take my advice...

You will need rubbing alcohol and hairspray! Blot don't rub the stains. Trust me, fight the temptation to rub the stains away. It only makes it worse. I normally do not use hair products but I do have a small can of hairspray just in case I need it. So I wanted to say thank you "Big Sexy Hair" for helping me get the lipstick out! The rubbing alcohol from Target got the highlighter out immediately! To finish the job, I got out the heavy duty stuff. Woolite with Oxyclean. Worked like a charm and the chair looks like new again.

There you have it. My guilt for locking him up is completely gone and that gate will be a permanent fixture at his doorway from now on. I've decided to put the monitor in his room so we are able to hear if he needs us. It's sad that we have to do all this but we have no choice. He is still too young to be by himself roaming the house and his curiosity is at an all time high. Safety First!

another life experience lived....