Even though I stop wearing them, I have a hard time getting rid of those kinds of things. Every little piece, even the stuff I didn't really wear that much but wound up keeping ahold of for sentimental reasons, is a tiny scrap of my history, as my style and taste and life have evolved over the years. Hemp necklaces? Definitely high school. Fashionable watches and beat up sunglasses? My years working at Sunglass Hut. It's a like a time capsule, that box.
I wouldn't call myself any kind of hoarder- because I rummage through our closets and our house several times a year, digging up clothes and crap we don't use or need anymore to give to Goodwill or sell at consignment- but I am very much a nostalgia whore.
I've been putting aside old jewelry and things like that for if/and/or when I ever had a little girl. It just seems like such a fun idea to have a dress up box- I know I used to like to try on my mom's stuff.
My collection is pretty eccentric. Old Mardi Gras beads, tons of fun bracelets, out of style but cute watches with dead batteries, once-upon-a-trend necklaces- in all shapes, sizes and colors. I've always been really big on accessories, more so than clothing itself, so I've got a pretty healthy collection of pieces for Baby Mochi to enjoy someday when she gets big enough.
Jude has gotten into the habit of getting into my closet and digging around and dragging random stuff out to mess with. Over the weekend, he got his little mits on my "grown up" jewelry box, with my expensive nice jewelry in it- which led to me having to scour the floors for my valuables- what little of it I have. I found it all, thank goodness, but the situation was a whole lot of not fun.
He seemed really interested in playing with my regular jewelry box- full of current stuff that I wear. The stuff that falls in between junk and valuable. I think he was just bored. We have to get creative on the weekends now, when he's here all day and not in school. I'd almost forgotten how time consuming it is to entertain a toddler for an entire span of a day. You start looking for anything safe (and sometimes maybe a tad questionably safe???? Just kidding! kind of...) in the house to occupy them long enough for you to eat or get ready for the day without them wandering around tearing your house apart and getting into things they're not supposed to.
Rather than risk him losing anything I currently enjoy wearing, I remembered my "junk jewelry" box and gave it to him to dig around in instead. I told him it was secret treasure and that he was a pirate and this was his loot. Big hit. BIG hit. He had a blast putting it on, running to check himself out in the mirror, then running back to take it all off and put on more and go back to looking at himself.
I love how children are so innocent and unselfconscious at his age. They may be inherently drawn to certain kinds of toys (like boys to cars or girls to dolls), but for the most part, they don't see gender specific fun- they just see fun. So a box full of shiny, colorful, random jingly, jangly, dangly things is not just for girls- it's for any little person who has a fun imagination.
I wouldn't tell my little girl not to play with a Hot Wheel or a toy hammer, so why would I not let my little boy check out some jewelry? That'd be stupid. You bet I let him try it on. Bangle braclets up both arms, stacks of necklaces around his neck, and even a headband with Amber stones on it from my gypsy hippie days. Can I just say we had a fabulous time with an editorial photo shoot yesterday?
O.M.G.
His dad didn't think the pictures were as funny as I do- although I could tell he was amused, he didn't want to show it too much. What is it with guys and their macho bullshit? Jude is not even 3 years old yet! Lighten up man! What fun is it having kids if you can't take funny pictures to embarrass them with later down the road?
I'm going to make some future girlfriend of Jude's very happy one day with these fabulous photos of him looking so fabulous in his fabulous jewelry:
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