Conversation with Paigey

This afternoon Paigey and I decided to tackle her room. It wasn't super bad; our kids have to clean their rooms Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. However, things had gotten built up in her desk drawers, some of the boys' books were in her bookcase, and some of her toys she had needed to be reorganized. I thought it was going to be a stressful time, but thankfully, she's very much like her Mommy and likes to organize! All in all, it was a great time for us, her room is amazing, and she got rid of a whole box of toys (either giving to her brothers, with my approval, or donating to my parent's church's garage sale) and a whole garbage can of junk! I'm so proud of my girl!

However, she broke my heart while we were going through her stuffed animals...but then she immediately made me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Here's our brief conversation:

Paigey: "Keep...keep...keep...oh, we can get rid of that one!"
Me: "Which one, honey?"
Paigey: "Dangles."
Me, heart breaking: "*GASP* DANGLES?!?!? Are you SURE????"
Paigey: "Well, yeah, Mom...Ryan really loves my monkey, and it makes him happy. He can have it for while he's little. But we can't really get rid of him, he's my specialist animal I have."
Me, heart melting: "*snif snif*"
Ryan, after Paigey gives him the monkey: "*gasp!* Dank oo, Paigey! Wuv oo, sisser!" (Translated - Thank you, Paigey! Love you, sister! ...and then he and Dangles are inseparable the rest of the day!)

You see, when I was pregnant with Paigey, my dad would jokingly say that I had a Stress Monkey. I don't know exactly where he got that name from, but it was our joke. Whenever I was frustrated or stressed, it was just my Stress Monkey. After Paige was born, one of the first things my parents bought for her was a monkey, which is how Dangles came into our life.

Paigey and her Dangles monkey!

Dangles was Paige's security animal. Wherever Paige was, Dangles was there, too. He even came to Pete's and my wedding, wearing a home made tie in our wedding colors (even flower girls need dates, right?).

The flower girl and her date

So for her to give her brother her stuffed monkey, even for a short time, is a huge thing. It's hard seeing my little girl growing up and getting rid of some of her toys because she's "too big" for them. But I'm so very proud of her for seeing that she has something that could make someone else happy and then does something about it. She may be strong willed and makes me want to scream and pull my hair out most days, but there are some days that give me such hope for the wonderful woman she is going to be some day...and today was definitely one of those days <3