Our Daughter, the Hoarder

You heard me....Jaynee is a hoarder.  If you noticed from her birthday post, she likes to pack things into bags and carry them around with her.  My parents lovingly call her the "bag lady."  I took this picture the other day because I thought it summed it up perfectly.  But this picture only scratches the surface of the menacing habit that is toddler hoarding.

You see...yesterday I was getting Jaynee ready to go to play group and I couldn't, for the life of me, find the other shoe that went with her outfit.  I could find the shoes she was wearing the day before, but I couldn't find ANY other ones.  I went to her shoe basket and it was EMPTY!  The house was relatively clean, so I knew there weren't any shoes lurking under any piles of toys or books.  It wasn't until tonight, when I was looking for something else, that I discovered that the above-pictured hoard hadn't been sorted through yet and underneath the piles of food were, yes, EVERY other shoe that she owned.  In addition to that were five articles of clothing, two aprons, several bowling pins, plastic spoons, two pairs of slippers, and some random toys.  Although relieved to solve the missing shoe mystery, I still couldn't find what I was looking for.

Indeed, the most dreaded question you can ask if someone is missing something in our house is...

"Did you see Jaynee playing with it?"

Because, my friends, the answer to that question will determine if your lost item will be found quickly, in a logical place, or if it will eventually be uncovered at the bottom of a toddler hoard.

Best wishes, iPod headphones.  I'll miss you!