Overtaken by their toys

I just want to feel like I'm not the only one feeling this way...
I miss the days where their toys just fit in a basket, rattles, teethers, small stuff...
now I have a little kitchen, ryde toys, chest for books, playard where is occupied by most toys,
two chairs...and they got a table and two other chairs that I just put in the garage because
they only use it to climb.
and pretty soon we'll start with coloring and crayons, etc, where am I going to put all that
stuff! and of course all the adult furniture is away (coffe table, lamps)
I don't want to put toys in their room because they associate their room with sleep...
or maybe it won't... who knows... I miss my adult organize house!

 

:crazy: You are not alone!!!

You could put toys in their room :good: Mine have had them in there since day one and it's not messed with their sleep. It used to be part of our routine to go in their rooms for a few so that we could change scenery. :good:

 

I don't believe in that whole "associate their room with sleep" thing. We keep plenty of toys in their rooms and it has never seemed to bother them. I wouldn't encourage using their cribs as play spaces, but I can't see what difference it could make to have toys in the same room (when they're in their cribs, they probably can't even see very well what else is in the room).

And when they're older, they will actually enjoy having more than one place to play. Sometimes kids who are whiny and clingy when they're playing in the living room turn out to be quite happy to play in their bedroom for a change.

That said -- I hate to tell you that this "stuff" problem only gets worse! However, it does help when they're old enough that you can take the play yard down. We were very happy to reclaim our dining room after nearly a year of having it mostly occupied by the superyard.

I've decided that keeping the mess under control is a never-ending process. I come up with solutions, they help for awhile, then something else bursts out of its containment and I need a new solution. :laughing:

 

I understand! At the end of the day I put everything in a big plastic box, put their sofas to one side and leave their walk-in kitchen tidy. It sort of goes back to being our lounge but you can see we have kids there!!! I have just done a big clearout of their toys seeing they got so much for Christmas but I need to hire a warehouse to store them all in!!! :lol:

 

We have toys spread out throughout the house...some are in the living room, the play kitchen is in our kitchen, there are toys in the family room, plus they have a few toys in their room. I've found that trying to associate the room with sleep only does not work for DD because then she plays with shoes and hats in her room. I just had to take out her 20 blankets, shoes and hats to get her down for a nap :faint:

 

We're in the same boat here! :wavey: My house has been taken over by an explosion of plastic crap. :headbang: In order to contain some of the chaos and keep us from feeling to claustrophobic we have had to do a few things:

1. My mother bought us a nice-looking wooden toy chest for Christmas that she had stained to match our living room furniture. This is great for corraling all the odds-and-ends (Little People, toy cars, books, etc.).
2. We gave up and turned our dining room into a play room. We basically just moved the dining room table against the window and put their Kangaroo Climber in the middle of the room with their ride-on cars parked around the perimiter.
3. We only keep about 40-50% of their toys upstairs; the rest go down in the basement and get rotated out occasionally. This keeps them from getting overwhelmed by too many toys and keeps stuff fresh.

We also had to have a serious talk with my in-laws about bringing toys. They care for DH's Baba (grandmother) so they feel guilty they can't come visit the boys more often. So every time they walk in the door they bring 4-5 toys EACH. It got so bad we basically told them if they bring a toy the next time they visited we'd start selling them on Craigslist. It was just TOO MUCH STUFF. In return, I gave them lots of ideas of things to do for the boys instead like bringing a toy that they take back with them so it was something special they only got when Grandma and Grandpa came. Also I told them that I'd let them watch TV with them (a rare treat), take them to McDonalds (or any restaurant of their choice), feed them ice cream for dinner, or any number of "special" things that would make their visits meaningful.

So far so good!