Can you find Abby?

Abby has a huge amount of items she sleeps with each night and nap time. What started with just one blanket and one bubba (what she calls her stuffed animal kitty) has now developed into 3 blankets, 3 bubbas, 2 cheep-cheeps (yellow chicks), 1 teddy bear, 2 dolls, up to 5 or 6 other various stuffed animals, sometimes 1 or 2 plastic toys (i.e. a sheep or cow or the like from her farm toy), AND - her latest addition over the last couple weeks - a favorite book. Yes, a book. She'll hold it next to her face and fall asleep with it. Strange, I know.

Most of the time of think it's cute or I roll my eyes to myself at some of the crazier items she chooses. =) But one part of it that is downright annoying is that Abby likes to take EVERY item out of the crib when she wakes up. One by one, she holds each item out to me, until my arms are laden and then she grabs the last two items and waits for me to pick her up. The difficulty is that I'm usually already holding Ben, so carrying 382 stuffed animals plus 64 blankets and one baby and one toddler becomes quite the feat indeed. We then go out to the couch where we all sit and snuggle for about five to ten minutes (she's a slow waker). That's the stage where the picture above was taken.

Some of you might think I'm crazy to let my daughter do this, but I don't see the harm in it and don't feel like it's worth picking a fight over it. You can be sure that if it becomes too out of control, I will step in. And, I have to admit, sometimes I get too irritated (like when I'm trying to hurry) and I just pick her up out of the crib before she can hand every item to me - she cries for a minute or two, but gets over it fairly quickly. One upside to the piles of stuff she takes to bed with her is that she rarely notices if something is missing. For instance, back when it was just the three bubbas, she would become distraught if we could not find one of them. Now, I just grab her pile up in my arm and dump it in the crib, not really caring if every single item is there. Occasionally, she'll ask about certain ones and I will show them to her or go find it, but she's actually more flexible now and will easily take substitutes if a certain animal can't be found at the moment.

So, for now Abby enjoys being surrounded by things she loves while she sleeps and I will continue doing my balancing act each time she wakes. =)