Day 375 - Who Owns What Again, Ellie?

As anyone who has lived with a roommate knows, you reach a point where quite a bit of your stuff becomes relatively co-mingled. In fact, by the time you and said roommate are ready to say sayonara to your living arrangement, your clothing is pretty much the only things that are guaranteed to belong to you. Although, if sitcoms have taught me anything, it's that female roommates tend to share everything, including clothing.

Male roommates only have to worry about who gets the canoe...

Now, once I got married, it goes without saying that everything that belongs to me belongs to my wife and vice-versa. Ok, I should definitely add that clothing is once again the exception to the rule. I can truthfully say I've never staked a claim to Bethany's clothing. Although, come to think of it, she has been known to pluck some of my t-shirts or hoodies from collection at times for her own personal use. Need evidence? Look no further than the series of belly photos from when Bethany was pregnant with Ellie.

Now, when I had a roomie and the time came to split stuff up, we always would have to strive to remember who the original owner was. That way we knew it was going home with the right person. Lucky for me, even though it’s unnecessary, Ellie has taken it upon herself to ascribe the ownership of particular items to Bethany or me.

I noticed this trend last week while Bethany was gone at work. Ellie would find something that she knew belonged to Bethany and bring it to me, proclaiming "Mom" over and over again. Popular items for her to do this with include Bethany's blanket, pajamas, and random clothes. However, the ownership declarations did not stop there as it even featured items such as Bethany's cereal bowls and cups.

Now, I'll admit that I was feeling a bit left out. It certainly seemed as if my daughter didn't care enough to attribute ownership of items to me. However, that seems to have changed with Ellie's new game of comparing and contrasting Mommy's stuff with Daddy's Stuff. For example, she's figured out that Bethany tends to eat cereal out of a plain white Corelle bowl whereas I use a larger, plastic bowl. She's also been wandering around the house for a couple of days carrying a water bottle I used on Saturday declaring it to be "Dad's". 

Perhaps my favorite part of this little game occurred today as I was getting Ellie ready for story time at the library. As I was getting her dressed, I laid out the outfit I had in mind. However, before I could start stripping off Ellie's pajamas, she caught sight of the pair of pants I had set aside, and was overcome with excitement, declaring them to be "Mom's". It should go without saying that my wife, small as she may be, does not wear a 24-month pant. However, to Ellie's untrained eye, the pants I had set out reminded her of Bethany's pajama pants. 

"Mom."

Now, I should mention that I abstained from dressing Ellie in her prized "Mom pants". I instead found another shirt and pant combo. The reason why? I was hoping to avoid a possible breakdown caused by Ellie spending the day #MissingMommy courtesy of a pair of pants. However, that doesn't mean we won't take advantage of this nice little coincidence at some point.

In fact, Bethany is already planning to dress Ellie in said pants on Saturday while wearing her "matching" pajama pants. Now, if I was asked how this will go, I'd be lying if I said I don't expect Ellie's little brain to explode due to pure happiness at looking just like her mommy. 

Now I have one final question for you? Do you think she'd also be excited if I got her an outfit that matched something I wear? Yeah, I don't think so either. #DaddyWrite