Kid Stuff: Recycled Memories

Things that (with the kids' consent) I photographed and then tossed as part of the move-back-in:

(1) "Squares" from the Big Kid's (co-ed, Cowboy game-centered) baby shower.  "All proceeds donated to Baby McGlinchey College Fund."
 

(2) "Bronzed" baby shoe.  Not your traditional bronze baby shoe, but a toddler-sized Reebok that a preschool teacher with a wicked sense of humor spray-painted bronze and glued to a frame from the Dollar Store.  Love it - but not enough to make room to store it.

 

(3)  The Big Kid's third-grade "name" project (involving assigning personal attributes to each letter of his name).

C:   Church member, Cub Scout, Camper.
O:  Owner of cats.  (Yes, he was reaching.)
N:  Nature lover.

N Number Two:  Neighbor, Native Texan.
O Number Two:  Owner of dog.  (Yup, still reaching.  And one more O to go!)
R:  Reader, Recycler.

S:  Swimmer, Surfer, Soccer Player, Son, Scooby Doo fan, Scientist in the making.
C:  Constructor (with LEGOs), Collector (of Yu-Gi-Oh cards).
O Number Three:  Older brother.

T:  Traveler, Tennis player.
T Number Two:  Third grader.

(4)  Big Kid's dressing room photo from his third-grade (second-grade?) Drama Club performance.  He was "Shark #2."  (Makes me think of "Love, Actually":  "There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?")

(5)  Trebuchet constructed out of a milk carton, pencils, plastic spoons and Scotch tape.  (Not pictured, but also photographed:  a camera obscura constructed out of a box that formerly housed a National Geographic explode-your-own-volcano kit.)

(6)  Advertising propaganda. "Outdoor Serv Services.  Inquire within."  Kind of ironic, right?  For more information about our outdoor serv services, you have to inquire of us INSIDE?  As I recall, the services consisted of shoveling dog poop - and JUST shoveling dog poop.  As in, a neighbor offered him a dime a brick to move thirty bricks to the side of her house, and he declined, on the basis that "my business plan is limited to JUST shoveling dog poop."


No, the business didn't last long.  Thanks for asking.

(7)  Dog made out of pipe cleaners and Floam.  Trust me, it had seen better days.  Also, it skeeved me out, in that, texture-wise, it reminded me of my salt dough map of New Jersey, which my mother did not think to photograph but instead shoved under a living room sofa.  Some time later, the map came out from under said sofa, and a "water bug" (Houstonian for "hideously ginormous  tree cockroach") was caught in the act of eating Trenton.  Wish he had eaten the Jersey Shore, you know?  Woulda, coulda, shoulda.  Floam Dog looked munchable.  So out he went.

But not before I photographed him for posterity.