Please send help. Call one of those hoarding shows. We have a problem. During a perfectly lovely playdate this afternoon my friend’s baby pulled himself up on the ottoman in our living room and moved the lid ever so slightly. Just enough for me to discover what Piper had been hiding inside:
Yes, those are dirty socks hoarded away in the ottoman. And a few pairs of underwear for good measure. The culprit is clear. The rainbow puppy paw prints on the size 4T undies really gave it away. Apparently, when you’re watching TV on the couch in our house and feeling…shall we say…constricted… you strip off the offending clothing and stuff it in our ottoman. For weeks. You can put your leftover cereal in there, too, rather than walk the ten feet to the kitchen. Do I need to tell you about the smell? I couldn’t help myself. I had to ask. “Piper, why did you stuff your dirty clothes and leftover food in there?”
“I’m saving it.”
“For what?”
“Later.”
I understand that kids hoard. They collect stuff, like trash. Some even do so for a useful purpose. Maybe even like this:
This is what Piper’s big sister does with her own hoarding. She creates sockfits, which is a full line of Barbie clothing made out of mismatched socks. She designs and sews them herself. Somehow, this hobby has moved my response from reproachful disdain to admirable frugality. Our friends now save the orphaned socks from their laundry and bring them over to our house for fashionable recycling. Piper’s hoarding, though, hasn’t yet evolved. She’s still in the denial phase. She doesn’t have a problem. Isn’t it normal to sleep in a bed with 34 stuffed animals? And doesn’t everyone need seven baby blankets to keep warm at night? There’s hardly a spare inch in the bed for the little hoarder. And that’s exactly as she likes it.
piperism 
Perhaps we are the ones who have the problem. We don’t see the amazing possibilities of week old cereal and dirty socks. My children are both hoarders. There is so much stuff stashed in every corner of the house. The Barbie sock clothes amused me. My daughter made sock clothes for her Beanie baby animals. Not as Project Runway chic as your daughter’s, but there were head bands, mini skirts and tube tops. It was fun for like a whole weekend. now I just find sock remnants and half dressed Beanie babies in random places.
I’m the opposite of a hoarder. When I get out a plastic bag, my kids run the other way to protect their toys from the trash. Can’t say that I blame them.
Love the sock outfits! Those are so neat! I may have to make some of those for my little sister 🙂
She’s quite the seamstress. I can’t even sew on buttons straight. The sockfits are a hoot!
I love Isabelle’s sockfits. They’re neato.
Thanks, Rachel. Maybe Jack and Isabelle can add sockfits to the items they’ll see one day in their bakery boutique. It’s going to be quite the place!
I know the blog post is actually about Piper but those upcycled sock outfits just rocked my world. I love that Isabelle.
Aren’t they amazing, Eva? I need you to come over and help Isabelle learn how to operate her new sewing machine. Please!
Paco would probably do a better job with the sewing machine. He uses ours more often than I do! I can teach her some mean crocheting though. 😉
I found an awesome project for Isabelle! It’s a whole doll house, furniture included, built solely out of paper egg cartons. Isn’t that wild? Here are the links.
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/carton-furniture-workshop-1001221/
Click to access decorated-dollhouse-craft-steps-FF0411CART_A24.pdf
Wow! She’ll love this.
I was reading this and couldn’t help my self either I ask her” why did u put all of that in the ottoman.” she said “I like to Pretend its treasure.”
It is treasure, Jillian. Stinky, disgusting treasure 🙂