The Purse Keeper

One of the many random things in my overloaded mommy brain is the precise location - at all times - of Giggles' Item of the Week. Does your kid have one (or more) of those? It's like each week she latches on to a new (or old) toy, accessory, bizarre trinket and must have it in her sight no matter where she is. Sometimes it's a plastic Hello Kitty watch from a McDonald's Happy Meal of times gone by. Or it could be a particular princess wand. Her purse is a recurring Item of the Week. It's a Dora the Explorer pink vinyl thing filled to the brim with assorted junk, ahem, personal items. Let's take an inventory, shall we?

• Her "cell phone" (note the QWERTY keypad for easy text messaging)
  
• Her stunna shades (a must for every 3 year-old diva)
  
• Her Skittles lip balm (because what self-respecting woman doesn't carry candy-flavored beauty products around?)
  
• Her (broken) pink beaded necklace (in case she is unexpectedly called for Afternoon Tea at Sleeping Beauty's place)
  
• Her rainbow bracelet (a lady can never have to much bling)
  
• Her "camera." I put that in quotes because it is not functional and is actually a TJ Bearytales prop. But what she doesn't know won't hurt her. Let's just hope she doesn't run into Beyonthe on the street and try to snap a pic. Then there will be hell to pay.

To be honest, I think her purse/accessory obsession is adorable. And refreshing since Chatterbox, my oldest, wouldn't carry a purse if you paid her. Well, maybe if you paid her. What drives me crazy is that she can never FIND the doggone purse. This forces me to take a mental snapshot whenever I see it lying around in some obscure part of the house/car. Take for example this evening: she was barely out of the bathtub - literally still dripping wet - when she panicked because she did not have her purse. I paused, closed my eyes and tried to recall where I last saw the thing. "It's in Mommy's bathroom on the floor next to your step stool!" I triumphantly exclaimed. And she scurried off happily to retrieve her beloved handbag.

I must also mention the fact that she must have the purse hanging on her headboard as she goes to sleep. That and her special pink blanket. So after the normal hectic routine of getting 3 kiddies fed, bathed, homework'd (well only Chatterbox), read to, teeth brushed, prayers said, and tucked in, I invariably have to fetch the Item(s) of the Week before she can rest her little head. I'm sure some parenting expert somewhere has a perfectly legitimate explanation for this behavior - in fact I felt a similar sense of panic when I thought I had lost my favorite pair of gold hoops last month (found them!) - and if it makes her feel comforted in some way, then I'm all for it.

Just don't ask me what's happening with Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin or who Obama is considering to replace Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court. I have no time or brain space for such things as I am too busy identifying the whereabouts of my baby's treasure.