My Little Packrat

Eleanor and Isaac are taking skiing lessons this week, so I can clean. Usually, when I try to clean off our storage shelves, Eleanor takes anything I put into the garbage and puts it right back on the shelf. So I sneak.

All my kids were like this at this age (and Ruth was even worse--when I finally convinced her to get rid of stuff she didn't need, she'd pass it on as a treasured heirloom to her younger siblings) and they've all outgrown it. So far. But sometimes the things Eleanor has carefully squirreled away are too heartbreakingly sweet.

"Eleanor's Special Things" box

Contents of the box.

I'll leave that one on the shelf a while longer.