Matthew's favorite

Crayons.A box of crayons to be precise.

He loves them.
He takes them with him everywhere. I'm not sure if he enjoys putting them in the box more than coloring (he has a longer coloring stamina than Chrissie did at that age).
He takes them in the car and to the store. Just the other day the kids and I were at a store (didn't have carts) when Chrissie's realizes she forgot her shoes. I realize I forgot the baby bjorn (I don't have an infant carrier). But I'm going to finish that errand I set out to do. So, Chrissie goes on my back and Jane is in my arms. Suddenly, Matthew, with his box of crayons, in the middle of the parking lot, decides he wants the bread that he'd tucked away into Chrissie's bag in the now locked car. I look at him in dismay. I tell him will have bread when we come back. That didn't work. He decides to chuck his crayons everywhere. Everywhere, as in all over the parking lot, under cars, etc. I look at him in disbelief. He cries. And we pick up those cursed crayons.
He's even ventured so far as to request to go to bed with them.
I, of course, being the lazy parent, finished with arguing, let him go to bed with his beloved crayons. All the while telling myself, "I'll go and get them when he's asleep."
The following morning I realize I forgot to get the crayons. whew. He hadn't colored on anything. "Next time, I will not forget," I promise myself. But, I do, several times until I get him up one afternoon only to find that he colored on everything: walls, crib, sheet, bumper...why do I make my life more difficult.
He's not allowed to take crayons to bed anymore.
But he still takes them everywhere else. They're great for sacrament meeting.