Little Benny

So you know how I got all those BtB toys from ebay? Well eventually Jacob wanted a 'little Benny', who is not a regular character, so he was harder to find on the internet. One day at Target I found a travel size Benny and bought it for Jacob. That was the first brand-new BtB thing we owned. Go figure that was the one to be chewed by the puppy.

I am ultra careful about keeping Bob stuff way up high so it doesn't get chewed, but this one slipped through the cracks, literally, one day on the toy shelf. We were out when the chewing happened and came home to the most gruesome sight. Poor little Benny had gotten it on both his front and back shovels, and was completely useless, as far as construction purposes go. We tried to hide the evidence from Jacob, but he somehow found out anyway. That was not a pretty scene. I promised to buy Jacob a new one, which usually would be against my rules, but this was a special situation. I thought maybe this would be the instance where the lesson finally hit home, and from then on Jacob's toys would be put away above the reach of Mango.

When we made it to Target for a new little Benny, there were none to be found. I even went to a different Target to look for him, but no such luck there either. Eventually we found a Benny and brought him home to join the rest of the gang, including Deformed Benny. So you think the odds would be against anything happening to Benny II...well I swear to God, the very next day, Mango got to Benny II and chewed his front shovel to high hell, as well as his back digger thingamajig (this Benny had a drill on the back instead of a second digger/shovel). WTF?

Since we have a great deal of toys already, and I have this thing about not wanting Jacob's birthday to be all about presents, I told most everyone to get a gift for the animals at the Humane Society instead of something for Jacob. Later this week we'll head over there to deliver the goods and hopefully a life lesson will be learned. So even though we did it this way, there are still the presents from those family members who wait all year to lavish gifts upon my child. We're spending today at home, slowly going through the gifts, enjoying them one by one, and as we do so, we have to get rid of one thing for each new toy that makes it's way into the mix. That's my rule with anything in this house, now that we have fully expanded into our tiny home.

While Jacob was occupied with his new playdoh cutters, Deformed Benny made his way to the trash can. I had to be careful to cover him up with the used bubble wrap that he also probably would not want me to throw out. I only get one chance with these things because if Jakie happens to find something like that in the garbage can, he'll lose a little trust in me and then will forever be suspicious of me trying to throw out that particular item.

Side note about the bubble wrap: Yesterday when Zach and I were giving Jacob his present from us (it was actually a gift bag with a half dozen random little things that Jacob had been wanting because I knew he was getting all the big stuff from other people), he pulled out the first object (which was a new hard hat because his current one is sucky and always falls off his head), wrapped in bubble wrap (straight from ebay), tore off the bubble wrap, dropped the hard hat to the floor, and when asked what it was, replied "It's for me to jump on!" That's my kid...and I was the kind of kid who removed the present from the box and then excitedly climbed into the box with as much joy as if I had just won the lottery.

I'm having mixed feelings about Deformed Benny sitting at the bottom of the garbage. At first it felt good, but now that I'm writing, it feels as if a story is being lost, put out with the trash. I still have the little Willow Tree figurine with the mom holding her little boy, their foreheads pressed together, that is now missing the mom head. This was a result of Jacob's throwing things phase, back when he was still a baby. I haven't been able to throw it out because there's a story there. And I know if I replace it I will still not be able to get rid of the original. There it sits, now upstairs, so as not to freak out the company, just waiting for the day they invent glue strong enough to hold the pieces together. Maybe it's a comment from the universe about the the inherent nature of motherhood? Lady has baby, but ultimately loses her head.

So this is what I am trying to prevent with the throwing out of Deformed Benny; the hoarding tendencies that I spent the first 20 years of my life embracing, and now am constantly working to keep at bay. I don't want Jacob to become like me in that way. It doesn't feel healthy...because there's the question where does sentimentality end and obsession begin?