One thing I told myself I was going to do this week was to go thru the grandboys' toy bins and purge out all the ones they no longer play with. As I sat on the floor doing exactly that this afternoon I was amazed at how many of them the boys have already outgrown. With having an older brother to hero worship and tag after, Cooper pretty much bypassed playing with infant toys, outside of a plush bear rattle and a plush elephant with ears that crackled every time he'd rubbed on them. The many little figurines, Disney toys, and cloth books that Dylan had played with have been ignored. I kept a few stuffed toys but, beyond those, what I kept were the trucks and cars, the 'big digs' and numerous fire engines, the garbage truck, hard hats, tools, and Fisher Price buildings the boys seem to prefer over everything else. I do have a basket tucked under the table their gas station sits on, still filled with all the WWF wrestling figurines their dad loved to play with when he was a boy. It remains to be seen if they'll like those, too. Since my son and daughter loved being read to and loved listening to music a lot of the time I thought for sure Dylan and Cooper would too but, outside of a blue grass CD that Dear Hubby has with the song "Looking for a City" on it that the boys love to listen to over...and over...and over again...and march around the living room and dining room while they're listening to it...neither one seems to be much interested in books or music. My loss, since I adored reading to my kids and enjoyed their music albums and cassette tapes as much as they did. Oh well...they're only 17 months and 3 1/2 so maybe there's still hope yet.

So now I have two big garbage bags all tied up and out on the front porch, ready to go to the Goodwill tomorrow.

Shakespeare really knew what he was saying when he wrote, "Parting is such sweet sorrow!"

It's goodbye to just another little phase of their babyhood...but it's gone now forever.

Arggghhhhhh.

It kills me.