Since our kids usually spend a little time in their rooms when they're not sleeping, we thought it would be a good idea to put some toys in there, an idea we resisted early on because we wanted them to associate the room with sleeping instead of playing. As most people who've been to our house will tell you, their rooms are a little like a prison state.
Our boys are climbers, so all the furniture is screwed into the walls to keep them from toppling anything over. All pictures and shelves are at heights where they can't reach, because they're also a little destructive at times, though you have to be careful with Connor who's learned he can jump on the bed and reach the edge of his display shelves. Their dressers are empty, because they love to pull clothes out of drawers and sling them across the room, and even with child safety locks installed they can still reach their little hands inside and wreak havoc. Their closets are locked, because all of their clothes are now stashed in there, as well as any of the keepsakes people have given them over the years. Mommy started locking closets the day she found Connor tearing pages out of his baby photo album because he wasn't in the mood to "nap" that day.
Anyway, we've decided to let them have toys, especially for the time between when they wake up in the mornings and when Mommy gets them up and ready for the day. Connor, of course, has trains. Lots and lots of Thomas and Friends trains, including the small track Grammy got him for his birthday last year. Sawyer and Xander were unimpressed with their little trains that the Easter Bunny brought (despite the fact that both boys go running straight into Connor's room on the way downstairs, every single morning), so Connor was happy to add them to his collection. And instead, the little guys were recently given the two dump trucks full of blocks that Grandma and Pa gave them for their birthday. They both love blocks, and these are a different size than the set we have downstairs, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Mommy has learned something though. You can only put them out after they have gone to sleep. If you leave them in the floor, in plain sight, the twins will play with them instead of taking a much needed nap. If you leave them out before bed, they will stay up all hours of the night playing and be terribly cranky the entire next day. We know this for a fact, because that's exactly what they did the three days I tried just leaving them out. So into the closet they go, and they're set out when Mommy or Daddy checks in on them before they go to bed for the night.
We've also had a few toddler meltdowns, for instance, when Connor's train track gets accidentally disassembled and he cannot figure out how to get it back together again. This is not good on an already tired little boy who's resisting taking a nap as it is. It results in crying, screaming and what I like to call Connor's angry voice, when all the words jumble together and it sounds really low and deep like a growl. Good times.
Sometimes, you have to live and learn . . .
