Pack Rat

Kaelyn has always been such a pack rat. She never wants to throw anything away or donate any of her old toys or clothes. Here are some of the examples of odd things she has BEGGED (even cried) to keep:

1. The plastic bag that her bedding came in.
2. EVERYTHING that she brings home from school.
3. ALL of her coloring pages from home.
4. Once I cut the bottoms off of my pants because they were too long. She pleaded with me to keep the scraps of material off the bottom.
5. She keeps her old underwear and uses them as dresses for her Barbies.
6. Candy containers
7. Box containers
8. She uses shoes that don't fit for Barbie cars.

She regularly finds items that I have put into the trash when she wasn't around. When she finds such items she will get them out of the trash can, come to me with the item (hand on hip), and request and explanation as to how I could possibly throw such a treasure away. Ha ha ha! It almost feels like I am in trouble as I scramble for an explanation that won't break her heart. Sorry to say, most of the time I just play stupid and act as though I have no idea how an old shoe box (or whatever else it may be) found its way into the trash. To which she would respond, "Mommy, I know you put it in there." I have gotten better in my old age! Now I either bury the item in the trash can or take it to the outside trash.

Usually I pick my battles with her "special condition" and throw things away when she is next door at the neighbors house. Yesterday I was shocked to see that her condition actually was getting carried over into school. Apparently her teacher had just used the last Clorox wipe and was getting ready to throw the plastic cylinder container away. Kaelyn immediately came to the container's rescue! She asked her teacher to please let her keep the container to use to put her small toys in. Her teacher said she could have it but needed to rinse it out first. She was so excited to reveal her treasure when she got home yesterday. You would have thought she had just won the lottery!

Love you Kaelyn!