My little Hoarder

As I was going through old pictures to post, I found this and I had to think for a minute to remember why I took it.  Then I remembered... 

My Logan is a very sweet boy.  He is very sentimental and makes emotional attachments to EVERYTHING!  He can not throw anything away!  His room is filled with all sorts of random treasures that he has collected and he remembers where they all came from and what they are from.  If we even get close to the DI, he goes into panic mode because he gets extremely afraid that I am going to make him give something away.  It is pretty bad.  Every paper he brings home, every drawing he makes, every toy - even if they are broken!  I remember when he was about 4 or 5, there was an incident when Darren threw away a water bottle in the recycling.  It was just before the truck came to pick it up.  It was just a regular plastic water bottle.  Not like a reusable one or anything.  Logan went into total meltdown mode and wanted to chase after the truck to get the bottle back.  It was crazy!  He is getting a little better, but not much...  Anytime I do throw something away that I don't want him to know about, he always seems to find it and dig it out of the garbage before it is gone.  Here are a few recent examples...

I cleaned out the toy room and threw away a few toys, including a plastic fireman's hat that was in the dressups.  It was completely shredded up and was just a cheap one the kids had gotten on a field trip to the fire station.  I threw all the stuff in the garbage in the bathroom.  A little bit later, Logan called me from the bathroom.  He was sitting on the toilet going to the bathroom and while he was sitting there, he was going through the garbage can and digging out everything and explaining why we couldn't throw it away.  Especially the fire hat!  He came out a few minutes later wearing the hat.  

The kids ate some pistachios one day and I was clearing off the table and threw away all the shell remains they had left sitting around.  Logan went into hysterics.  He asked why I would throw those away.  They were for his shell collection!  We had to talk about what kind of shells are appropriate for a shell collection - pistachios don't make the cut!  

Logan had some cheap flip flops I bought him for the summer.  They were the $2 kind and towards the end of the summer, they broke.  He asked me if I was going to fix them and I told him I didn't think they were fixable.  He was very upset and wanted to know why we wouldn't fix them to save for Bronson.  (This is just about the only way I can get him to get rid of things.  If he is going to save it for Bronson or give it to his cousin...)  I told him we could just get some new ones and then he asked, "Ok, well, do you have a picture of me wearing these?"  That seems to be his latest consolation.  As long as there is a picture of the item it is a little easier to let go.  I have NO idea where that could have come from...

And that brings us to THIS picture...

 

In July, we went to the park with a group of friends.  Logan collected all these sticks and when it was time to go home, he started to load them ALL into the car!  I told him he could take one.  He had a bit of a fit.  He was sure someone else would take them if he didn't take them and they wouldn't be there the next time we came to the park.  He picked the stick he wanted to keep and I set the rest outside the car in a pile.  When he saw the sticks like in a pile, he became more upset.  He started to spread them around.  He explained if they were in a pile like that, someone would just come along and take the whole pile and that it would be too easy for them.  He then made me take this picture! He also asked me if I would be sure and print the picture out. Funny kid! 

There seem to be several random pictures like this on my camera lately for this same reason.  

Like this one for one of his own special Lego creations.  I can't even describe the meltdown that happened over this because I didn't take a picture before the girls destroyed the original masterpiece. 

 

Or this random picture of Logan's Ninjago card collection.  

How I love my Logan and his love for life and everything!  Including junk!