The Toy Fairy

Lots of households with kids have random fairys that reside within. One popular one is the Tooth Fairy. We have lots of little Nature Fairies that live in the birdhouses outside (they only come out when you're not looking). I've often heard moms wish that they had a Clean-Up Fairy to do all their work! Well, I think that I've met the Clean-Up Fairy's cousin, and it's the Toy Fairy.

The Toy Fairy doesn't leave your darling children toys while they sleep. The Toy Fairy doesn't magically fix a broken favorite toy. The Toy Fairy doesn't even give you mystical inspiration on what to get your kids for their birthdays. The Toy Fairy in our house will STEAL YOUR TOYS IF YOU DON'T PUT THEM AWAY! I'm not even kidding. Well, she's a little nicer than that, but she will take them to play with for an undetermined amount of time if you leave them out. It's so awesome. When N's done with a box of blocks and wants to move on to something else but is too distracted to get them all put away... "Honey, I thought I heard the Toy Fairy in the house last night. You better get those blocks put away or she might take them to play with!" It just lights a little fire under her butt, hehehe! As of yet, we haven't had to actually implement a toy taking. The threat of fairy invaders has been enough to spur a cleaning frenzy.

I've also heard that the Toy Fairy has lots of sisters and brothers, just in case you want to invite one to stay at your house. ;)