Fruit Loop Necklaces

I picked Elaina up from "school" (twice-weekly, 3-hour pre-pre-school, but still pretty crazy that she's "in school") the other day, and we stopped at the deli for a quick lunch. 

While we were waiting, she pulls out a Fruit Loop necklace she made at school, puts it on, and promptly starts eating it.

Now, I'm a preserver/hoarder by nature, and don't like messy things like, for instance, Fruit Loop pieces falling all over the table while someone crunches on a necklace of them.  Neither of these inclinations are shared by my lovely daughter.  This difference in outlook is a potential source of conflict...but it can also be good for both of us.

Biting back my initial instinct to say something like, "Don't eat your necklace, Sweetie.  If you eat it, you won't have it anymore.  You'll get crumbs everywhere," I instead paused a second.  In my mind's eye, I saw similar would-be consumable art and other things from my childhood, preserved past the point of usefulness, other opportunities missed, pleasures deferred indefinitely in the name of saving them for some "later" that would never arrive.

I picked up one of the growing scatter of colorful, broken cereal pieces from the table (a red one--they're the best, really) and popped it in my mouth as Elaina crunched into another cluster of Fruit Loops on the ribbon around her neck.

"That's what Fruit Loop necklaces are for," I told her.

"Right, Daddy," she replied without hesitation.

So...do *you* have any Fruit Loop necklaces you've been holding onto?  Maybe it’s time to crunch into them.