My Little Pack Rat

My daughter has what I would call a weird sense of attachment to, well, almost anything. A sticker on the floor of the classroom came home the other day. She gingerly pulled it from her pocket with that "you're not going to make me throw it away are you?" look on her face. She saves the straws from her juice boxes she gets at lunch - she pretends they are birds. We were constructing things with play dough the other day when she begged me to save a butterfly I had made. I relented, then she begged for the bear I made, then the duck. She explained to me that she gets sad when she makes "friends" with things and then has to get rid of them. So now all three sit atop my "treasure ledge" above my kitchen sink. A few days later while playing mega blocks she announced she didn't want to take apart the castle she just made. Then forlornly said "you know the feeling I get mom!". Yes, the castle is still perched on her book case awaiting the day it can be dismantled and put away. Mike made her a snowman pancake this morning - I was worried she would make friends and refuse to eat him! (She did eat him, only after I took a picture of him) The other morning before she would eat her breakfast of peanut butter toast she had to draw a picture of the smiley face she had formed it into. I have a girlfriend who still laughs when she remembers the story my husband told her husband - Payton had a bowl of grapes she insisted were a family and would not eat them nor let me throw them away. Her reluctance to get rid of anything sometimes worries me - what will her room look like at college? One day at a time I guess - or one "treasure" at a time. I guess the saying is true one mans trash is another little girls treasure!