I always said I wasn’t going to be one of THOSE mothers - you know, the ones with toys all over the house, no semblance of adult life left - the ones you scorn when you go over there to babysit….. well….. I am. Every room and closet in my house has the little duck’s items in it. No matter how much I clean, more items continue to be strewn around my house.

Today, I took a shower with a million little rubber ducks, then toweled off while reading the little one a book that was left on the bathroom floor. I think it just adds interest to my house - hey, without that book, we’d be stuck reading shampoo bottles, right?? It’s easier to embrace the craziness that comes with these toys than to stress about returning them to their rightful place (and now, who is to say that isn’t on my bathroom floor?)

How to contain such items?? Well, I do cycle them out - there are two giant boxes full of toys packed away in his closet, which we go thru about once a month. This leads to great baby delight, as he thinks he found “new” toys. I also have containers for the toys everywhere (I love Target’s containers, meant for hauling ice to picnics - bright colors, sturdy enough to hold a baby, and nice wooden handles). That way if I need to clean up in a hurry (and who doesn’t), I can throw everything in the containers and shove them on the bottom shelf of my overloaded bookcases.

You know though, if my house was clean and there were no little feet running around strewing toys everywhere, it would be a clean but boring place to be, and I wouldn’t trade my mountain of toys for anything.