So that's what these things are for...

We spent the morning visiting a few Mothers' Day Out programs in our area, hoping to find a good fit for Luke sometime in the not-too-distant future. Both programs were in full swing when we dropped by, and so we got a good feel for what their days are like. One of them even let Luke join in on their snack time and later their play time while I visited with the director. He had so much fun there with their huge assortment of toys that I had to absolutely tear Luke away when it was time to leave!

Lately, I've noticed that Luke has really become a "toy guy" - but only at the church nursery, or at a friend's house, or even at a strange MDO program. When we get to any of these places, he usually scrambles out of my arms and dives right in to the toybox (without a concern in the world for anything or anyone else around him). But oddly enough, this hasn't translated to his own toys. It's not that he doesn't play with his toys at home, but he has never seemed to be drawn to them in the same way - and as often as not, he's playing with my tupperware or house shoes or the books off of our shelves rather than his own (carefully selected and age-appropriate) toys.

But today when we got home from our MDO visits, Luke immediately disappeared into his room, and in the time it took me to fix our lunches and finish off a lengthy phone chat with a distant relative, he had completely rediscovered his own treasure trove of toys. This time, I was tearing him away from his own things when it was time to eat lunch... it's as if he just needed to see a bunch of other kids playing with toys in order to realize that that's what you DO with those things!

(And don't judge me for this - but for a mom who is in the midst of trying to decide whether or not it's even worth it for Santa to add to the so-often-neglected toy collection this year, I found this whole experience strangely gratifying.)