James' Dresser

With the kids gone this weekend I've been deep-cleaning the house as hard as I can. All the books have been resorted, all the toys have been put away, and I can mop the floors without anyone driving a dump truck through it before it dries. I was upstairs cleaning James' room this morning, and I couldn't help but smile at his dresser. It is exactly the random assortment that you'd expect from a four-year old's dresser. He'll probably be upset at me for touching anything on it, as his dresser alternates between being "Radiator Springs," the tire shop in Radiator Springs, a Christmas scene for his stuffed animals, and carefully tracked but extremely messy dumping ground. Among the treasures:

Four wooden figurines with a wooden rooster, a wooden fire department, and wooden church. I have no idea where these came from and had never seen them before today.

The plastic top to the toy garbage bin that goes with the toy garbage truck Nama and Papa gave him for his birthday. Upon receiving the truck from them, he immediately took the top off the bin and declared that he didn't need it. I put it with his stuff, and he (I think deliberately) left it behind as we were about to leave. Nama brought it back out, and he apparently chucked it on the dresser. He loves the garbage truck and brought it to Pennsylvania with him. But he wants no part of that garbage bin lid.

Buffalo Bills sunglasses from the preaseason game we went to this August. James likes sunglasses in theory, but it bothers him to wear them in practice. I'm hoping the fact that he's holding onto them because he actually DOES like the Buffalo Bills. He's recently been saying that he likes the Steelers, but I think this is just because Owen is so overtly into the Bills, and James feels like he needs to align himself with J's team to provide some family symmetry.

A pair of black dress shoes that I've never seen him wear.

A Lightning McQueen birthday card from Grandma and Grandpa Davis on his 4th birthday card. It declares "Rev It Up," and has a picture of Lightning and Mater with monster truck tires on the front. It used to play a song when you opened it, but the battery is long gone.

One felt bootie that Great-Grandma Davis brought up for us when James was about three. Apparently Grandpa Davis used to wear them when he was a little boy, and they were already too small for James at that point. We held onto them, and apparently James liked the felt horse on the side, because now one of them is on his dresser.

A picture of George playing tee-ball that Aunt Melissa painted for him two Christmases ago.

Two sheets of smiley-face stickers from when we were potty-training him.

Deep Fish, the blue and yellow paper fish that we taped to the ceiling above his bed back when we lived at Clover Park, and then taped up again when we moved to Harwick Road. James has had Deep Fish since before he could talk, and on the several occasions when we asked whether we should throw him out when his tape failed, James insisted that no, he needed to lie in bed and look at him while falling asleep.

A shark bath toy.

A deck of Animal Rummy cards.

A plastic yoyo from his last visit to the dentist which he was never able to get to work (it's pretty cheap) but which he remains fascinated by.

A number of plush stuffed animals which aren't important enough to be in the royalty of his imaginary friends, but which remain important members of the court, including a Ty praying bear, a small white polar bear whose nose is coming unstitched (this is a different bear than Steven Bear), a Pete the Cat, a white polar bear holding a treble clef pillow, a big bullfrog, a blue elephant, and a moose.

A black comb which he regularly loses, then finds again, and immediately uses to comb his hair down as flat as it will go, no matter when his last bath was.

His name written in his own handwriting on a piece of printer paper over a big block question mark that he must have also drawn.

About half a deck of time-telling flashcards.