Running inventory

I cannot get over how much 'stuff' children accumulate. I'm not even referring to clothes... that is a whole other ball game. It's the bits and pieces. The toys, games, puzzles, attachments, refills, blocks... LEGO! Never. ending. I remember having lots of 'stuff' as a child. Hundreds of miniature pieces of fun, each and every one important to me. Every piece serving a purpose in my daily play.


One thing that always amazed me, was my Mama's uncanny ability to know where most of my treasured knick knacks were. Just how did she know where to find them when they were seemingly missing in action to me? Many times I thought my favourite Barbie outfit or my best bits of fuzzy felt (how I LOVED that 'stuff') were long gone. Then like a knight in shining armour, my Mama would come up with the goods. I seriously thought she possessed incredible Mama powers. I believed she had a gift. Until I became a Mama myself, that is.


Something suddenly occurred to me this week. I can be juggling multiple tasks at once. Cooking dinner, washing up, folding clothes. But I still have a sense of the nooks, cranny's and secret hiding spots, my boys frequent. The latest favourite object, which will invariably end up in one of said places and forgotten about. Therein lies the answer to my lifelong amazement. Just as my Mama 'magically' kept a running inventory of the things precious to me... my boys now look to me to do the same. And I do keep a haphazard style of inventory. With the exception of objects mistakenly thrown in the rubbish bin or trinkets flung under the fridge, I am across the myriad of 'stuff' circulating through our home. These magic powers certainly come in handy, at any given moment.