Under siege

OUR house is under siege - courtesy of Harry and his toys. A few years ago a friend of mine told me he had banned his children and their toys from their front room because, he said, it was being taken over by toys. At the time, I remember thinking it seemed a bit harsh; now I can understand his sentiment.

A combination of Christmas and Harry's birthday have left us surrounded by toys. Our front room is an ever-changing obstacle course, with crayons, trains and trucks all waiting to trip you up at the slightest lapse in concentration.
I've lost count of the number of times I've stepped on something by accident, leaving me hopping around the room in agony, much to Harry's obvious delight. And if I'm not falling over the toys, I'm having to be build or fix them.

Harry's favourite at the moment is his wooden train. Now I must admit, I love the train set and we've bought him a couple of expansion sets to make it a bit more interesting - for Harry and for me. The upside is that we are now able to build some pretty elaborate railways, complete with viaducts and crossings; the downside is that it takes up most of our sitting room which, consequently, generally looks a bit like a building site.I can live with the railway, though.

What I find much more difficult to deal with is Harry's constant desire to tip everything out. I blame Melissa for this. She has, from a very early age, encouraged Harry to tip up his toy box and get all of his toys out to play with.

It wasn't so bad when we were only dealing with a handful of them but now he has so many, I can’t resist trying to tidy up after him. This is a game in itself because, if Harry catches you, he immediately empties everything out again and you're back to square one.Speaking of games, Harry is very keen on hide and seek. When he wants to play, he tells you to count, then scurries off before shouting ready, or 'eddie', at the top of his voice and giggling hysterically as you look for him.

To start with, Harry struggled with the concept of hiding but he's definitely getting better. On Wednesday, I lost him for a full five minutes when we were playing upstairs. I was getting a bit worried until I heard a giggle coming from the wardrobe in the spare room.