When I was a student at Ricks (yes, I am really that old - not BYU-Idaho), a couple of our FHE brothers were from Colorado. A month or two into the school year, they had a friend just show up one day to live with them. From the start, we knew he was a little strange. He would randomly light off fireworks in our parking lot, ring our doorbell and somehow manage to clamber up to the next floor before we managed to answer it, change hair colors every couple of days...not behavior typical of Ricks College students. But he was a lot of fun, so he quickly became our friend. One of the strangest things about him was that everywhere he went, he wore his backpack - running at the track with me, to the Haunted Mill, to church, grocery shopping, and every time he came to visit us. When we asked him why, his reply was always "in case the terrorists show up" (and this was in the late 90's - terrorism was not such a hot topic back then). We just laughed and chalked it up to another of his quirky habits.
Then one day, after he'd been there a couple of months, his roomies came over and informed us that he had been arrested. It turns out he had come to Idaho because he was wanted in Colorado...some big-time shoplifting charges (I think). We went and visited him a few times in the Madison County Jail and when I graduated and went home, I wrote him a few times. One day, I got a letter from him with large "Madison County Jail Inmate Mail" stamped on it and a letter from a missionary on the same day. I bet that really scandalized my small-town post office matron.
Anyway, the point of this story is to illustrate how conflicted I feel when I see my sweet little five-year-old parading around like this:
He insists on taking it everywhere we go. My compromise is that it can come in the car but not into wherever we are going. And just what, you may wonder, is in there? Well, currently there are books, Bakugans, dinosaurs, food, a water bottle, tools, gloves, a Light Saber, magnets, a butterfly net, two hats, and tweezers. Plus a few other things. And his helmet was in there immediately preceding this picture. Some might see him simply as a pack rat (which he is) or as an over-prepared boy scout wannabe. I find it a bit perplexing. It's a mother's job to worry, right? Because I could go on and on about things I worry about related to my kiddo's. I won't bother to share them all, but one other that is a bit worrisome is the pack rat thing. He cries when I make him throw away wrappers and is obsessive about collecting as many as possible of whatever his favorite toy is. He has recently started putting his plates into the fridge when he finishes eating instead of the sink so that he can save his food - no matter how microscopic the last remaining bite might be. In the mornings, his bed is always completely covered in toys, books, and eight blankets that he has gathered around him for the night. The show "Hoarders" hits a bit too close to home.
I'm hoping he grows out of these things. When I was a kid, I was a serious pack rat myself. A favorite family tale is about the time my mom found a bird's nest, complete with eggs, stored under my bed. I have about zero pack rat tendencies now (tiny apartment living cured me of that habit), so let's hope he follows suit. And here's to hoping that he begins to use backpacks for just hiking and school. As fun as it was to receive inmate mail, I don't really care to repeat that experience. Especially not with my son.
One last parting question...why is it that all winter long, my daughter was dressed inappropriately for the weather in her swimsuits and sundresses and now that it is warm, my son insists on wearing long sleeves and pants? Have they no sense of temperature? I'm starting to wonder...
Cole makes a good cowboy - tall and skinny. 
Annie liked all the animals, but I think she liked getting little drinks at the drink machine most of all.
