They Really Do Care

My kids have been truly blessed with an abundance of stuff. Since my two oldest are only sixteen months part, we found that in order to keep the peace we needed to purchase in sets of two. And unfortunately now that they are older, they somewhat expect, want, have a fit, if they don't receive the same item. And yes, that item must be the same color, style, etc. Crazy, I know. But anyways, we have lots of stuff.

So when asked what their favorite things are they really can't tell you. I don't blame them, I blame us for buying too much. If a kid has only one stuffed animal then by default that becomes the favorite. If they have 30, how is one to choose? However, when it comes to getting rid of anything a sudden deep and passionate attachment is formed. Case in point, Issiah. Now who the heck is this Issiah character? Well he is the pumpkin we grew from our garden and the one that Gabby took to share with her class. When he arrived at school, Gabby picked through the old stickers and happened to find an old name tag with Issiah printed on it, and there you have it. Now Issiah has been primed and ready for the ole trash can in the sky since the beginning of December. Somehow Issiah always eludes me. He is at the back door ready to be taken out and suddenly he disappears. He sat in the garage for a while hiding behind some boxes until my oldest spotted him and again he disguised himself and went incognito.

I went back this afternoon only to find Issiah and a small flower in a cup of water. This is the same flower that I mentioned, in passing, was headed for the trash because it was almost dead.

So although slightly crazy making, I find this also endearing. It means my kids really do care. Maybe they don't care as much about stuff as they do about things that grow and/or were once alive. They don't want to throw in the towel and toss something to the curb when people say it's done/over. They are optimists, they think their love alone can revive it. Well...that's not such a bad way to think.