Boogers on the Wall

We lost our Lego Harry Potter. 

I was seriously upset.

Legos have become one of my favorite things to do with my boys. But during the three weeks that we couldn’t find the two-inch tall yellow-headed figured with the lightning-bolted forehead, messy hair and dark-rimmed glasses, I couldn’t even suggest we play with the building blocks because my 3-year-old would have a melt down.

It was horrible. But honestly, we would never have lost the little guy if my son didn’t have to take something with him every single place we go.

He took it in the van on the way to a local store and somehow he got lost on the way back into the house.

If I can’t break my children of the habit of bringing something with them everywhere we go, I think I am going to lose my mind.

Why do my children insist on taking something with them every single time we go somewhere?

Now I’m not talking about bringing a toy with us on vacation or taking something comforting to a scary place like the doctor or dentist’s office.  I’m talking about bringing something with when we run to the bank or grabbing a toy to tote with us as we stroll around the block.

Seriously? We are going to be gone for less than half an hour. Do they have to take something with?

No matter where we go or what we do, my children think they need to bring a toy.

I guess it’s partially my fault. When they were little and I felt bad for leaving them at a babysitter’s house I would bribe them into wanting to go by letting them bring a favorite toy. It helped with the separation anxiety. But now I think I have ruined my children.

I’ve got to stop them.

Luckily the school sent home a paper at the first of the year saying there were no toys allowed in class. That doesn’t mean we don’t have an occasional breakdown when my 5-year-old tries to sneak toys to Kindergarten.

He threw a whopper of a fit in the elementary school parking lot the day I caught him hiding his new laser gun in his pocket. There was kicking, screaming and biting.

But thanks to the no-toy rule at school at least my oldest has learned that he can’t take something with him ALL the time. Now, time to train the youngest.

Luckily we found Lego Harry in our Tupperware full of toy guns. I don’t know how he made it in there, but I was super happy to see him.

But I am tired of getting home from running errands empty handed and having to call each of the stores we ran to, asking them to check their lost-and-found stacks for our crap.

We have a couple of rules about taking toys. Like no weapon toys at church or the hospital. But I am seriously going to add a bunch of new ones. Starting with a no-Legos-outside-of-the-house rule.