The Love Hate Relationship

Remember when you brought your baby home from the hospital?

Remember how excited, scared, nervous, in-awe and madly in love you felt with your little one?

If you were like me, you watched them like a hawk.

Every little peep - I'm on it.

Every little squawk - I'm there.

Then, they start to sit up. So, you surround them with pillows in case they get a mean lean and end up falling over.

Then they start to crawl around. So, you crawl around at eye level to see what they see so you can baby proof the house from a one and a half foot perspective.

Then they start to walk.  So, you work on putting up a blockade to the stairs and all sharp corners.

And you find out your pregnant again.  You have the second baby, your second love of your life, second bringer of light to your heart.

You are exhausted.  You no longer have time to hang on their every whim and attend to their every whimper.

You try.  But there is only one of you.  And two of them. (Then three. Or four. Or five. Or...I don't think I can count that high...

(Now for moms who have more than two kids - I applaud you. Seriously. My two boys are the loves of my life and I am so happy to have them. But two is our limit. Hubby and I are sticking with man-to-man defense.  Anymore kids and we would have to go to zone. The two of us are less effective that way.)

After one kid, you find yourself a bit more lax than when you only had one child.  Some things don't worry you as much as they used to.  You find with more than one kid that you cherish any quiet time you can get.  

So if the kids are quietly playing with something that will not maim or kill them, you will snatch that moment like a fat kid eating cake.  Greedily devouring it.

See, there are toys that I have a love hate relationship with.  My kids love them so it occupies them for a while which means I too love them.  But I also hate these toys because the aftermath is brutal.

• PlayDoh.  Oh PlayDoh!  Why must you mess with my emotions, you gooey substance, you.  My kids will play with you for 30 minutes at a time (which is an eternity in toddler/preschool time).  However, you never seem to entirely end up in your cases.  I find you in giant rock like clumps around the house.  Or better yet, I find you ground into my carpet.  Grrr...
• Trains. I know. You're thinking, "Why trains?" Well, I'm so glad you asked.  I say trains because all of the tracks never end up back in the box.  Wanna know how I find the missing pieces?  I end up stepping on it. I stepped on a piece of the train bridge 4 months ago and my foot it still gimpy.  No lie.
• Balloons. My kids love to play with balloons. You can buy a bag of balloons at the dollar store, blow them up at home and BAM! Instant kid party!  They love to throw them in the air, run through them laughing and kicking.  They REALLY love playing with balloons.  The downside is that at some point along the way, one of them will lose their mind and try to eat the balloon.  This results in me taking and popping all the balloons with everyone screaming in the background.  Good times.
• Nerf gun. I believe you see where this is headed.  J (soon to be 4) plays with his "dart shooter" (as he calls it) and will play happily by himself for a while.  Then, he gets bored and seeks out other people to shoot (i.e. mama or little brother, L).  Once one of us get a dart to the face, I end up taking it away which results in a bit of drama. (Okay, it results in A LOT of drama.)

In the end, you weigh each side.  I can get 30 minutes of quiet play time right now, if I am willing to have 5 minutes of crying later.  Hmmm, decisions, decisions....

What about you?  Are there toys with which you have a love hate relationship?