Day 833: Busy Toddlers

A couple months ago, a friend invited me to participate in a Toddler Busy Bag Swap.  I don't typically sign up for these things because I struggle with any sort of commitment, as you well know.  But, for some reason, I signed up for this one.

Tonight was the Swap Night.  And my first Joyful Moment was eating the delicious treats made by my friend.  So yummy.  But it was also a Joyful Moment in visiting with friends and then in seeing all of the super fun things they'd created.

Baby B (and the older two) will be well-entertained!  I'm going to mainly reserve them for church, as this is a very difficult time to keep him quietly busy, but some will also come in handy during long car drives, and others will be nice to have when my hands (and arms) are busy with the new baby.

And, even though I chose the easiest idea out there, I've spent a great deal of time stressing over my own contribution to the swap.  I volunteered for this Twist Tie bag.  I mean, it doesn't get more basic than that, right?

Sort of.

You'd be amazed at how difficult plastic bottles are to come by.  Glass jars--yes.  But that's not exactly what you want to be handing to your little toddler to keep his/her hands busy.  I finally ended up going with bubble bottles.

Twist ties ended up being quite a challenge as well.  You can't buy just twist ties at the store.  And the ones that come with garbage bags just aren't very nice.  Plus they're short and skinny.  The grocery store has some lovely, long, thick green twist ties in the produce department, but they weren't sure how they felt about selling them to me.  Amazon has some, but they were black and plastic and I just didn't like them very much.

I am certain that pregnancy hormones had absolutely nothing to do with my finickiness here.

So, I briefly contemplated driving around town and, um, "taking" 20, or so from the produce department of each store.  I never use these on my own bags, so it would just be like catching up on all that I'd never used and not like stealing, right?

Well, it didn't really sit well.  Plus, I didn't exactly feel like driving all over town.

And then I remembered something.  Someone gave Little M a package for this past Christmas.  But, we had to travel quite some distance with it and by the time we got home, the wrapping had come completely off.  It had torn a bit on a couple of the other gifts, but this one was totally unwrapped.  And that's how I knew it was a package of Bendaroos.  Which look like a ton of fun and are something I wanted my kids to have, but it was a Spongebob package.  I have serious beef against Spongebob.

Again, no pregnancy hormones were at play here at all.  I am sure.

So, I decided to exchange it for a different one at the store.

But I didn't.

Christmas came and went and this box stayed hidden, and eventually forgotten, on the top shelf in my closet.  Saturday night, HH and I were sorting through the potential gifts for Baby B.  I buy these things when I find them on sale or clearance throughout the year and put them all up on the top shelf in my closet.  Saves money, time, and stress.

And that is when the Bendaroos were rediscovered.  Not a month ago when it was Little M's birthday.  Then they somehow stayed hidden.  But now, they made their appearance.  And I set it aside, deciding to just give Little M the gift and overlook the Spongebob problem.

But I didn't get around to it.  And then, two nights ago, I couldn't sleep because I couldn't figure out how to make my twist tie project and I didn't want to let my friends down.  And I might have some hormone-induced struggles that cause me to obsess over weird non essentials.

And then I thought of the Bendaroos.

And yes, my friends, I do believe that this whole long story was a tender mercy from a loving Heavenly Father.

And I finally fell asleep.

I was able to divvy up the Bendaroos (with a plethora still left over for my own children, for anyone concerned about Little M missing out) into the emptied bubble bottles.  Bada bing, bada boom--project complete.

The End.

Wishing you all Joyful Moments that are a little lengthy, but important to remember!