The "Big Kid" Bag

Like most posts, this one is dually inspired.

Last week, Shannon of Rocks In My Dryer renown posted a comprehensive catalog of items unearthed from her family van. This week, the multiples mom blog How Do You Do It? has a post up wherein mamas of wee twins are chiming in and sharing the inventory of their double-service diaper bags. Reading through the responses evoked both nostalgia and motivation.

Now that Darren and Sarah are "big," I haven't necessarily abandoned the idea of toting a huge sack with strategically selected items to make our collective outings more pleasurable...for ourselves and those we encounter. Since diapers and their affiliated periphery are no longer needed (cue the Doxology), the space they once filled has been usurped by assorted items -- logical and illogical. So in true confessional fashion, here are the honest-to-goodness contents of our bag, as of this morning:

The bag du jour. Jackie O's eyebrows make her look a bit sinister here because of the way the sack is sagging along the browline, but it's one of Warhol's iconic silkscreen images of her that I love, and when suspended from my shoulder, she looks lovely.

First item out: My Toshiba laptop. Sure, a BlackBerry or other notebook might weigh less, but along with the nappies, we retired the upper-arm defining Graco Duo Glider. For a Mama genetically predisposed to batwings, a little extra arm work never hurts. (FYI: The laptop is NOT always in tow; it's an occasional resident in the bag.)

Mama's necessities. Not pictured, but normally in the bag, my Burt's Bees lip balm (in Raisin) and the Olympus Camedia (being used to take the picture).

Paperstuffs of all kinds. The receipts, business cards and candy wrappers are an ever-present. While I adore magazines to distraction, I rarely have one in the bag. This magazine is a new one to our area and the cover gal is an incredible artist and friend, Caryl Burtner. (Actually, her work confronts and documents things in transition...this particular blog entry would likely please her!)

Darn that "I want to go to Friendly's" catchy commercial tune! Within Friendly's placemat folded kids' menu resides a 4-pack of crayons and a mini-journal. Two kids, six little notebooks...looks like we've been thrice since bag acquisition. (and no, I didn't get the bag three days ago!) The cloth rolled item at top left in my opinion is hands-down one of the best mama-inventions ever. Lovingly called "the crayon roll-up" by Darren and Sarah, it unrolls and reveals two columns of crayons, each in their own narrow pocket. [It was given to me as review fodder for BabyTV.com and we've used it happily and regularly ever since. End of unsolicited commercial endorsement!]

The next few items are fairly self explanatory:



[Yes, that's a coffee stirrer amongst the similarly shaped writing implements.]

Get ready. The contents are about to take a turn toward the more eclectic...

The kids and I had a dental appointment Monday. Clearly I forgot about my new toothbrush and floss sample. (No cavities!)

What? You don't carry around a DVD with archival footage on the early Christian resistance to the Hitler regime?

C'mon! You never know when you will pass a pool and your kids will want to swim. (Even though you don't have towels or swimsuits with you, apparently goggles are more important.)

Memorial Day block party pinata spoils, times two. This mass of booty (not massive booty, for those of us jarred by swimsuit shopping season) had taken residence all along the bottom and corners of the formerly illustrated canvas sack. A mysterious white powder, which I trust is the result of pulverized Smarties, not Anthrax, also covered the bag's bottom.

Now that the tote's momentarily empty, think I'll do a quickie evaluation to see which items are granted return entry. Goodness knows, whatever space we "free up," we'll manage to fill in short order.

Do tell...what's the most "unusual" item in your diaper bag and/or purse?
(And yes, if you're reading this Tracey, I did remove the 3-hole punch from my bag!)