Success: A clean room!

Well, I changed the plan a little. I took away the toys, the major ones: mega blogs, geotrax, little people, playmobile and rescue heroes. I left the room a mess. I left the papers all over the floor. The other toys (stuffed animals, legoes, etc...) scattered everywhere. I left the bed a crumpled mess. When I picked him up from school I informed him that some toys were gone now. Told him how to get them back: clean your room and keep it clean for 7 days! I got the usual: No fair, your mean, I hate you. Then I told him that I was willing to help him pick up his room, but only if he did the majority and really helped not just pushed things around like he usually does. Well, it only took an hour and it is cleaned from top to bottom. The toys are sorted into the appropriate baskets. The legoes are in the lego basket. The lincoln logs are in the lincoln log basket. The match box cars, blocks, puzzles, etc...all in the right baskets. This is big because when he cleans alone (or, umm, even with daddy) things just get shoved into any old basket. We dusted. We vacuumed. We changed the sheets on the bed. Now we are going to make a chart to show each day and whether or not he cleaned his room so he knows when it has been 7 days and he can start to get his toys back! Yahoo....I feel like a success as a mom once again. Finally. And the big part: No tears, no tantrums, just the little hissy fit in the car on the way home and it wasn't even bad (he wasn't too into it!). Thank you everyone for your well wishes. I did take before and after pics but he BEGGED me not to post them. I told him I wouldn't until he failed to clean his room for a day. How's that for blackmail. OK, so maybe a success as a mom is a stretch. But I'm doing it the best I can! LOL>gotta get through it the only way you know how, and with a smile!