This small boy's hands are always full...often with food, sometimes with books, but most of the time, there is a car or 4 clutched in his small, sticky fingers.

Our house is bursting with cars, trucks, busses and vans of all shapes and sizes.  While I naturally want to limit the multiplication of wheels, I have a hard time controlling the "I Wants" and a harder time saying no.  Mainly, I just don't go to places where he will be tempted, but there are always inevitable moments where the industry of consumerism finds us.

The baskets of small cars in the children's section of most charity shops is actually a wonderful thing.  It keeps small boy occupied while I look around.  However, it makes it even harder to say, "No" once we finish. Sometimes I am able to leave the shop without cars, trucks or vans, but often one or two are find their way back to our house.

Rather than blind acceptance of growth, Ellis and I have struck a deal.  For every car that leaves the shop, one must stay.  The collection of vehicles that I carry around in my bag is inspected and suitable sacrifices are left in the shop as a donation for some other child to treasure.  At first, I did this without E knowing.  Overtime, he has become more capable of making a decision about what stays and what goes.  Sometimes those that we own already are more precious than the shiny and new, sometimes not, and sometimes there is a heated discussion.

Of course there have been a few occasions when we  have bought back cars we originally donated, but I don't begrudge it in the slightest. At least there are fewer cars in our house to trip over.