Who are you sleeping with?

I believe we are going to have a problem with our little Mira. She likes to hoard things. She is unlike her brother who likes to collect things like dice and rocks and other sorts. He at least puts all his collections in containers and keeps those containers in his room. Mira, on the other hand, collects friends. For awhile I would have to bring with me, not only my daughter, but all her doll 'friends'. She would have to lug them along to school.

Just before bedtime I took a snapshot of her bed all setup for the night. She MUST sleep with all these friends in their very specific spot. If they are not in their spot, she gets annoyed and immediately puts them in their proper place. If someone is missing, we cannot even get into the bed until he/she/it is found and put in their place. If there is someone in her bed that doesn't belong, they are quickly thrown out and onto the floor. But it's not only that she moves and removes these friends. She will point and say with a stern voice that they were misplaced and make sure whoever set it up, doesn't make that mistake again. Oy!

So this is the setup:

This all started with these two friends. Monkey always had to be in the right corner and Elmo had to be in the left. No IF's, AND's, or BUT's!

Then a few weeks ago we went to a diner nearby and she got her Pink Teddy Bear. She carried her around until a week later when Jory insisted we go back to get him a Teddy Bear (which has since been lost) and Mira got her own Blue Teddy Bear.

For awhile they slept in Mommy's room. But on Halloween Aunt Jill brought Mira the Orange Candy Bear and now the Teddy Bears must sleep in Orange Candy Bear's lap, right next to Elmo.

We had this small beanie cat for awhile. Last year she was nice enough to ask Ms. Rita at her school if she could hold it, and well, the cat never made it back to Ms. Rita. It's a good thing that Ms. Rita is smitten by Mira's cuteness, or we would have had a pretty big fight on our hands. Thank you!

Then this dog and Ms. Rita's cat used to be placed outside her door just before books/bed time, but they did eventually make it into her special lair of her bed.

Suddenly at a trip to Toys R Us she promised she would replace all her friends that she had to sleep with AND take everywhere with this very soft Webkins Jr. Cat. Soon did I realize that I was scammed and she was just added to the gang. So I guess she figured an appropriate place for her is holding Ms. Rita's cat on top of her by the pink monkey.

Just the other day she picked up this cute Bulldog at CVS and just couldn't put it down. This was his first night joining the crowd, but I soon learned that he didn't make the cut and sleeps on the floor with the other bed rejects.

Now just imagine in the mornings when I come and get her out of her crib, she hands me every one of these friends (and makes me pick up the bulldog off the floor). I have to carry her and them in my bed for her morning show. It's quite an ordeal.