Fortunately for N, she seems to have been mostly spared. Give her a couple books and a teddy bear, and she's a happy girl who doesn't need much other "stuff". She never really even had a lovey or a blanket as a baby, and even as an infant, the only thing she was perhaps excessively attached to was me--quite literally. Of course, there are the rocks she collected from the driveway when she was four, before we paved it, which she still has on a shelf in her room...along with the pine cones...and the sea shells...and the glass pebbles from a friend's fish tank. But I'm pretty sure those things are all considered collector's items, so she's not a hoarder. She's a collector.
O, on the other hand, is obviously an aspiring hoarder. For the past few months, he has been attached to blankets. This was incredibly cute when he walked around the house dragging one blanket behind him. But then he needed two. And eventually, three. At this point, he requires every child sized blanket in the house to be in his hands and/or in his crib, or he will repeatedly and with increasing intensity cry "Bankie!" until he gets them. He is the third child. Can you guess how many baby and child sized blankets we have in our house? I'll tell you how many. Too damn many. It would simplify my life greatly if I would get rid of some, but you will probably be shocked to learn that I am emotionally attached to most of them. Oh sure, I should get rid of some of them, but they were all either made by friends or family, bought off my baby registry, or
Besides, I see O's hoarding tendencies as a sign that B is sharing his brotherly knowledge with him, since B has been hoarding things since he was an infant. We could hear him crawling into the room before we could see him, because he always had an object in each hand--often a plastic cup, or a block, or a toy car. It's so exciting when your baby starts crawling. And excited we were "Aww, here comes B!" Clunk, clunk, drag, clunk...Then he started walking, and at a stage when most kids want a teddy bear to go to sleep with, he would have to have two plastic cups, three blocks, four cars, and at least one dinosaur, right next to him, all night long. If one fell out of his crib, he would wake up crying and knew exactly what was missing. Now, at three, he is well past the crawling stage, and mostly past the walking and running stage. In fact, most of the time he appears to half leap, half fly from one place to another. This is an amazing talent that three-year-old-boys have. And when he is leaping and/or flying, he almost always has something in his hands. Or several somethings. Today he appeared to be playing with a boot (cause you know, we don't have any real toys in our house.) Upon closer inspection, I discovered that this was not just any boot. This boot was home to an airplane, a tractor, a whistle, a whisk, two dinosaurs, one sock, and one Baby Jesus.
Yes, he plays with Baby Jesus. Jimmy and I have had discussions about whether or not this is appropriate. Jimmy's feeling is that it's JESUS, and Jesus should not be a toy. But this Jesus is, in fact, a toy. He came with a Nativity set made for kids. I did hope Jesus would be packed away with all the other Christmas stuff by now, but B grew attached to Baby Jesus and won't let me put him away. Don't worry--Mary and Joseph are still hanging around, too. In fact, I think the whole Nativity posse is still floating around our house. Today, several of them went in the car with us to get N at school, and when I parked and opened the door, Jesus fell out. So B did what he always does when he loses something. He screamed for it, "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!"
"It's OK B! I have your TOY BABY JESUS right here", I told him as I gave Jesus back to him, and smiled at the other parents around us. At least it was at school and not Church, though now that I think about it--where are you more likely to get in trouble for yelling Jesus' name these days?
After we got home, Baby Jesus was missing, and we discovered that he had been accidentally left outside. Once he was brought in, B and O started to fight over Him, with O yelling "Baby! Baby!" and B responding "My Jesus! He's mine!". I eventually took Baby Jesus away, and thought it might be a good opportunity to put him away until next Christmas, but I think Mary and Joseph are still in the car, and I didn't feel right about separating them. Plus, I think they're probably good to keep around. God knows this family needs all the help it can get from that family.
Maybe Jimmy does have a point, though. Baby Jesus shouldn't be getting thrown around the car, along with his Holy parents, the angel, the wise men, and the donkey. And he most certainly should not be getting dropped outside, or left outside, or be the center of a tug of war between brothers. I do have some guilt about all this. But then again, I'm Catholic. I have guilt about everything.
Isn't the important thing that our children want to hang out with Jesus? Especially because they are, after all, our children, and this is Jesus. I just wish they wouldn't fight over Him. I have thought of getting them each their own Jesus, but I think if you have two of the exact same Baby Jesus, people are allowed to call you a hoarder. Besides, I don't think that sends the right message. They need to learn that there's plenty of Jesus to go around.
So I think Jesus and his family are probably here to stay, at least until after next Christmas. If Jesus is ok with being carried around in a boot amidst dinosaurs, trains, and kitchen utensils, then who am I to try to put him away in a box?
Besides, God knows hoarders need love, too.
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