A good compromise.

I went into the dungeon in our home.. AKA: the kids play room. No matter how many times I clean it up it continues to get destroyed.. which it totally should.. my kids play hard! But I am constantly cleaning up toys that NEVER get played with, they just get dumped out of buckets and then they sit there. Carter has been begging us to buy him a new train.. this is nothing new.. this is ongoing daily for the last year.. at least. I know we have so many trains, but I really don't mind buying them .. if its for a special occasion.. like his birthday or Christmas.. but we don't really buy them anymore.. "just cause'". Because I was feeling overwhelmed by the ridiculous amount of toys that we have that are never played with and Carter was REALLY wanting a new train.. I made a compromise with my two-year-old and hoped for the best. I told Carter that if he got rid of his toys that he never plays with, then with the money he gets from selling his old toys, he can buy a new train. Well, he was ECSTATIC! At first, he had no problem saying.. "what about this mommy" while placing the toy into the toy sale box. What a trooper.



We placed all the toys out on the lawn and driveway and waited.



Bentley hung out for moral support for his big Brother.





And Carter played.. Trains..





A few people came and looked around and bought a couple things...Auntie Amanda being the real big supporter and handing Carter a 10 dollar bill after buying his toys.. and no I didn't MAKE her pay lol.. she wouldn't take my "no" for an answer. And after a few hours and a little convincing when people got close.. Carter's old toys were gone and we went out to buy his new train. Carter has been asking and asking for a "big Rosie Train" among other ones.. and a couple of months back Brian found one on amazon for $15 (which is cheaper than buying it in store here.. not to mention I have never seen Rosie in store) and we had intended on saving it for his Birthday. Last May when we took Carter to Thomas's Day Out we did already buy him a big Rosie train and one day while him and I were shopping poor Rosie got left in the Cart and we never saw her again. Anyways, with his money from his old toys, Carter wanted to buy a Big Rosie Train... so I packed the Rosie box in my bag secretly and we headed to the store. We met Brian there after work and Carter so sweetly pulled his money out of his little pockets, placed it in Brian's hand and said "Buy a big Rosie train Daddy?" Brian put the money in his pocket and gave Carter the Rosie Train. Carter's eyes lit up! He was in awe of his new train.



He is constantly saying to me "I love her" and when I asked if I could take a picture, Carter said "ok mommy, and Ill hold her"...



Rosie carries Balloons in her freight car which is also super exciting for Carter.. what kid doesn't like balloons!?



And well, the rest of this train love story is history! He hasnt asked me to buy a new train for the past two days (record!) and he is loving every playing moment with Rosie!



So here's to a wonderful compromise! A little train in place of a TON of toys. We are both super happy about it!