They Remember That?!

My Children Have the Most Remarkable Memory for Toys

We are packing up the house to move. This month, May, we move from Georgia to New York. All is going well. The most annoying part of the process seems to be the toys in the playroom.

I admit the kids have too many toys. Many of the toys are buried in one of two big bins and both children have no idea what's in either bin. This is because, as hard as I try to keep them organized about it, when it's clean-up time, they want the job to be easy so they just throw their things in the nearest container.

The funny thing is, whenever I go to toss a toy or give a toy to charity, inevitably about one month later, the kids will remember that exact thing—no matter how small and insignificant it seemed to me. I'll pick something up off the ground—it's usually smaller than my hand—and I'll think, "Wow, I haven't seen this for weeks." But the kids will remember it after it's gone. "Hey Mom, do you know where that small red ball is?"... "Do you know where my doll's blue ring is?"..."Remember that blue cube from that game—do we still have it?" They will ask for the small things that I didn't think they paid any attention to.

When we fly, I tell both kids to fill their travel backpacks. They can bring whatever they can fit in the bag. Again, it's funny: They usually pick things they've not paid attention to before.

For the move, I'm going to ask both to pick five favorite toys that they will play with upon arrival and everything else goes on the truck. I'd better go look for that small red ball...