Tears on My Pillow

Ask anyone and they would tell you I am a pretty together person. I use humor to diffuse situations and am very laid back whether in crisis mode or not. That all changed today by a few Littlest Pet Shop animals.

My house needs to be cleaned out for the rental season that is quickly approaching. I do not think at the end of the summer we will move back in to this house as usual, because we just cannot afford both houses. So I am really trying to clean out closets etc... because our other house is smaller. So under the eaves today, I pulled out bins of Groovy Girls, Baby Dolls (and clothing), blocks and the Littlest Pet Shop animals. Oh yeah, and lots of stuffed animals! I have a really hard time throwing away stuffed animals. They look up at you with those cute furry faces, UGH. So I put them in a box, hoping to find a shelter or something that needs them. The bin of Groovies smelled horrible, so I threw them away. (If they hadn't smelled, I would have had a problem throwing them away too). I boxed up tons of Littlest Pet paraphenalia, but saved the animals. I figured the girls could pick 15 each or so to save.

So sorting was fine. The thing that brought tears to my eyes is that the girls don't play with these things anymore. They used to play for hours upon hours making up little stories, having weddings, babies, etc..., but now, not so much. I used to bring them home LPS animals as little gifts if I had been to Target. I searched high and low for certain animals. The whole thing of them growing up started to get to me. My poor mom was the one to call while I was feeling so sad, so she got the melt down of tears.

I knew this day was coming. In Toys R Us about a month ago, they couldn't find anything that they really wanted. I was floored! OK, they found things for over $50, but nothing in the under $20 category. When I was talking about adding on to our other house, my husband said, "Why, the girls will be going to college and living on their own in about 8 years." Talk about a punch in the gut.

So, if anyone sees me out in my sunglasses for the next week or so, please understand. I still have to go through the Barbies, Polly Pockets and Fisher Price doll house stuff.

When did they grow up?

There once was a time when Toys R Us was the Holy Grail to my kids. They ate, slept and dreamed of toys. Every occasion for them(OK, maybe not all...) was marked with a toy. Dr's appt.... let's go to Toys R Us, grew 2 inches....let's go to Toys R Us, good report card......let's go to Toys R Us....you get the picture. Today they both had dentist cleaning appointments. I won't get into the disaster that was my kids dentist history. Let me sum it up with lots of tears (mine and theirs), big bills(no dental insurance) and lots of cavities. Every trip that we survived, equaled a trip to Toys R Us. In the past 2 years, it turned to every cleaning without a cavity equaled a trip to Toys R Us. Yes, they have improved at the dentist. Today neither had a cavity. K had her last trip from the tooth fairy last night, B has one more trip from the TF. This in itself is bittersweet.

So, naturally, we head to Toys R Us. We walked around TRU for 20 minutes. The girls pointed to a few things. I walked through the baby car seat and swing aisle just for kicks. Actually I was checking things out for when my sister gets pregnant. I do not want to be the "old mom" that didn't know some swings go side to side now with mobiles over them instead of the 'old' back and forth plastic edition. We went through the Little People section of Fisher Price and wished that we still had them strewn over the family room because they have some cute new animals and things. We walked through Barbies, Polly Pocket, Hannah Montana, Dolls, Littlest Pet Shop, and the Bratz section. There was NOTHING that they wanted so badly that they HAD TO HAVE IT..... N-O-W!!!!! They actually didn't see anything that they really wanted. WTF?! This has never happened to them. We went into the bike section and K suggested a Pocket Mode Scooter for $179 for her birthday. B wanted Mario Party 8 for the Wii. (Hmm, not willing to spend $50 on no cavities). So we left Toys R Us with nothing. Did you hear me? WE LEFT TOYS R US WITH NOTHING!!!!!!

We then went to Cold Stone Creamery where I proceeded to drown my sorrows in a waffle bowl with chocolate ice-cream and white choc. chips. How did this happen? Are clothes going to be the reward of choice now? Maybe a trip to Borders. I don't know, but this is going to take some getting use to. Even K was upset by the fact that she didn't really want anything. She was practically apologizing for not seeing anything she really wanted. Bottom line: My babies are out growing "toys" and I am really not sure I am ready for the next stage.