Hoarder

Dude, my kid is a hoarder.  No, not the "Buried Alive" kind... yet.  But if you subscribe to the idea that these things start early in life, it could be headed that way. I think in a past life she must have been through the Great Depression or something because the kid feels the need to be holding all of her stuff all at once.  She can't just pick up one crayon and draw with it, she has to be holding all 17.  Which, I must tell you, makes it pretty difficult to draw.  And spoons?  She would attack her apple sauce with five or six of them at the same time if I let her. 

This need to hold everything all at once started really early. She must have been around six or seven months old because it was shortly after she learned to sit up on her own. I guess she figured now that her arms were no longer needed to support her upper body during tummy time, they might as well make themselves useful and hold a bunch of stuff. Bathtime was particularly hoard-worthy, apparently. She would try to hold every single bath toy she owned, with no concept that this was pretty much impossible. Her entire bathtime would be spent picking up one toy only to drop another, in an endless cycle, like a hamster on a treadmill, heavy breathing and all. Unlike any of the other bad habits interesting behaviours Lilah may have picked up, I can't pin this one on daycare, since it started so early. (What? Any other unusual personality quirks she displays are obviously a result of having to send her to daycare at 13 months and have absolutely nothing to do with our genes or parenting.)

"No, MY water!" (They weren't even remotely interested in her water)

The hoarding is particularly evident when she is among other children, and it's pretty much out of control when other kids come over to our house and expect to play with her toys. (How dare they?)  Thankfully for all involved, we live a life of privilege and Lilah's toy collection is large enough that it can't be contained within her little arms all at one time.  Otherwise, no one would ever come over for playdates.  As it is, we have to employ distraction and bribery techniques whenever another kid touches her stuff.
 

Wearing one backpack and holding another.



 Oh, and she has recently discovered the beauty and utility of backpacks and bags.  At first I thought she was showing a budding interest in accessories, but I've since figured out that the bags are just about taking the hoarding to a whole new level.  Hey, at least she's learning to be efficient!

We can never get out the door without some item or other coming along for the ride.  My car is littered with previously hoarded items - a plastic fork, a clean diaper, three necklaces, a miniature frisbee, several books, a solitary stacking cup, a Walmart flyer, a naked doll, a pair of socks, a winter hat, several granola bar wrappers, an empty chip bag, and a discarded Starbucks cup.  (Okay, so some of those items might be mine.  You just never know when you're going to need a miniature frisbee, know what I mean?  Actually, now that I think about it, if the trunk of my car is any indication, she may very well have come by this hoarding instinct honestly.)

*Last minute addition: I wrote most of this post yesterday, and then discovered this morning that my sister had compared herself to a squirrel on her own blog.  So that settles it, it must run in the family!



So what do you think?  Will she grow out of it, or do I need to be concerned that she'll be featured on TLC some day?