All About The Shells

Yesterday, I wrote about how my boys were all about the climb.

This morning, I woke up to find this scattered across my island. By my island, in this case, I mean the one in my kitchen. Yes, the one where we do a large portion of our food prep. Try not to think too hard about that one.

Anyway, I had a stream-of-consciousness morning moment, which led me to conclude that while my boys may be all about the climb, my daughter is all about the shells. I present to you the evidence of the last four days.

Exhibit A: Friday

Early Friday evening, baby-girl begged me to take her to the beach so she could look for shells. I obliged, happy to have an excuse to go myself.

Exhibit B: Saturday

My daughter requested another trip to the beach for the purpose of shell-collecting on Saturday, but alas for us both, it was my day to clean the walls. We are in the midst of redoing the bowels of our new house, and step one was to clean the walls of all unidentifiable substances, of which there are many. Step two will be ripping out the carpeting, which has acquired its own unique funk and is the world’s second most unattractive carpeting color (the first being the color I called “dung of the cow brown” in our apartment we lived in after we were first married), and replacing it with the lighter of the two pieces of wood laminate floors I showed you a few weeks ago.

Anyway, the point is that I was cleaning the walls and doing general household cleaning all day, so baby-girl had no option to go to the beach that day. But she would have if she could have.

Exhibit C: Sunday

She and I ran off to the beach when the boys got a little too Tarzan on us, and she stuffed the pockets of her skirt with shells almost to the point of overflowing.

Exhibit D: Monday

Midmorning, my daughter and I packed snacks, towels and the plastic green container she’s carrying to use for shell-collecting, and headed to the beach. The items on the kitchen island were some of the pieces she collected yesterday.

So, of the last four days, she spent three of them amassing shells.

She’s four, so these things often shift with the frequency of the tides, but I think it’s safe to say that, for the moment, she’s all about the shells.

8 Replies to “All About The Shells”

  1. Pebbles. We don’t live near a beach, so no shells. But The Cub collects pebbles. He likes to pick ones up for me, Nana, Pa, Daddy, whoever he thinks will like that particular one. So I find pebbles in his pockets, my purse, on the table, the L in the kitchen, the desks….they all seem to find something to collect, don’t they?

    1. It’s so funny you mention that, because, when I sat down to write this post, I started going off on a tangent about my younger son and his pebble collection, and then I decided to scrap it. But, he comes home with them in his pocket all the time. And, he’s got a bag in his school bag right now of pebbles to return to school because he shoved so many in his pockets that I’m afraid the playground at school will have a bare patch somewhere.

  2. I can’t even begin to tell you how many mason jars I have with “my very special collection of _______.” Rocks, pebbles, shells, feathers. I display them all over the house, which thrills the boys to no end. Now anything “special” and organic in nature that ends up in my washer/dryer? Sorry, but those special things get tossed back outside.

    1. I kept finding little pebbles in the minivan at the beginning of the school year, and then I’d forget to check pockets and wind up with some in my washer/dryer. I didn’t identify the source of the pebbles, however, until the day my middle child came home from school with both pockets literally bulging with them. I can’t believe no one noticed at school, because he looked like he had tennis balls in his pockets.

  3. Isn’t it fascinating how each child collects something? We jokingly call our collection of Mason jars “The Midway Natural History Museum” after our homeschool. My 5 year old has long has a fascination with rocks, even to the point of having friends send him rocks from their vacations. He’s been collecting rocks since he could walk. And rocks is a very loose term. Some of his collection pieces are actually concrete or asphalt. My 3 year old loves sticks while my 2 year old collects leaves.

    1. Sometimes it makes me a little nervous as my daughter goes picking up anything in sight on the beach for her collection, because not everything is a shell in reality, but to her it is. And I have to watch her when I tell her I’m looking for sea glass, because occasionally she’ll find pieces of glass that haven’t been in the ocean for long and are still sharp, and not realize the difference.

  4. Love it…and all of my BOYS are all about shells (as well as legos and everything else.)
    Shells are truly so much fun to collect because each one is so unique and the hunt is so exciting! Good for her…and all that pink, oh my!! 🙂
    Aloha,

    1. I’d love to hear about what shells are common on your beaches. We are noticing some differences between our new beach and our old beach in terms of what washes up most frequently. And, I think Lego collections are a rite of passage for boys these days.

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