What Do You Have In There?

I mentioned the paintbrushes that Lily Ruth was carrying in her purse. This is part of a much larger trend. She has taken to carrying the oddest assortment of things around.

Almost every morning, she starts off by choosing a central item for the day. It can be anything - hand sanitizer, Toy Story figurines, a bathing suit. Then she adds auxiliary items until her hands are full. At that point, I usually suggest a bag to carry it all in. We then try to match the items to an appropriately sized bag (you may recall that I've made 3 for her). Wait, I think I may stage some of her recent combos in tableau style so that you can get the full effect - wait here... I'll be right back...

O.k., so this was Tuesday's bag:

a picture of Daddy from Summer 2000, a picture of the Boy Cats wrestling, post-it flags, a random spring and four Toy Story 3 figurines all placed carefully in her tiny purple felt bag. It was a big hit at Story Time. Some kid tried to chew Woody's cowboy hat off, and Lola covered her legs in post-it flags.

Previously, she chose:

A swimsuit, a swim diaper, a metal car, her sunglasses, my LUSH massage bar, a stack of 'D' post-its, 2 bandages and a package of paintbrushes. These were corralled in a paper Juicy Couture bag. Actually, the bag was the central item that day.

She has a collection of pink carrier bags (Victoria's Secret, etc.). I think the bags themselves may have inspired her recent love of carrying things...

Here's another good one:

Lucy, hand sanitizer, her wallet, a bracelet, a penguin, a bead necklace and several Toy Story 3 cutouts all manhandled into her largest tote. That bag is too big for her. I was trying to make a bag that she could carry Lucy and her crew in. I succeeded, but the strap is too wide for her shoulder, so it slides off. Since she refuses to wear it across her chest, she spends a lot of time with her carrying arm straight up in the air in an attempt to keep it on her shoulder.

And finally:

Lucy, body glitter, mascara, dental floss, a rhinestone dragonfly hair clip and a wind-up dinosaur on a string in her original felt bag. This collection went to the museum with us. It also included her water bottle from the Aquarium  - between the two straps, she got pretty frustrated, but refused all offers of help until it was time to play in the water :-P I have no idea where she gets this stubborn streak...

It really cracks me up to watch her put these together. Her little hands are always so full and she's always so adamant that I may NOT help her. Her tiny brow furrows in concentration as she shifts items. Juggling them from hand to hand, tucking them under her chin and pressing them under her arms. I have to carefully suggest that it might possibly be easier to hold on to it all if there was a bag involved. Some days she turns me down and chooses to use her swimsuits as totes. Those days are hilarious. She throws the straps over her arms and crams things down into the body of the suit. Stuff falls out the leg holes every 10 seconds or so and she scrambles around trying to stuff it back in. Monday, she had a pair of leg warmers in the crotch of the suit, and it held a few of the things in, but my deodorant stick just wouldn't stay put. She was sooooooo ticked!

I wish I could see her thought process! I would love to know how these things all fit together in her head. For now, I'll settle for being an observer and occasional baggage handler.

It was even funnier to snap them for posterity because all I had to do was go find each bag - the stuff was still in there (except Lucy. She was in bed)!