Depression-era packrat syndrome is not a valid excuse if you are six or even thirty-three

So Kai finished first grade last month; he is a very happy camper. His last week consisted of bringing home numerous things, stuff he's saved alllllll year long. This stuff was to be found in different places around the house each day. One day we came home to find a pile on the kids' desk downstairs. One of the items was the little name strip that teachers tape to the kids' desks. It's cute, with their name written properly, the numbers, some shapes, colorful, etc... Well, this particular name strip had not Kai's name but the name of a little girl in his class.

V. says: Oh, Kai, is this your little girlfriend?
To which Kai replies: No, but she was going to throw it away and I told her I would take it.

Wonder where he gets it? This is not the first time. The boy came home from karate in April all excited because he had found the soft covers to some nun-chucks in the karate garbage. Not the actual nun-chucks, but these soft tube things. He was thrilled. His teacher was throwing away a long pvc pipe and he asked if he could keep it as it would make an excellent jedi (light sabre). HE HAS FIFTEEN JEDIS. He saved the rings from our Christmas advent chain. Paper rings. He saved his first tooth - took it out from under his pillow and hid it from the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy assumed that the tooth had fallen behind his bed during the night and gave him a dollar anyway. He proudly told me the next morning that he had tricked the tooth fairy.

T.'s mom once found an entire box of baseball card WRAPPERS - yes just the wrappers - no gum, no cards, just the wrappers, in her attic. They didn't belong to his brother. Or sisters for that matter. When we were first married and I asked T. what in the world he intended to keep his cream and hunter green jeans for, he replied, 'for when they come back in style!' When I asked him who was going to be fitting into them, he had no answer. We still have them. In storage.

I love my boys so much.