what's inside the tent

For the past couple of weeks, my son has had a tent made out of blankets in our living room. Today we decided it was time to clean it up, so I took the blankets off for the first time.

It was interesting to see what he had collected in there. And when I say "interesting," I mean that I had that kind of sick-scared feeling I get when I watch "Hoarders," and the therapist enters the house for the first time, and it's piled 5 feet high with junk and trash, and you're just praying that they don't find anything alive in there. Or anything that used to be alive.

Thankfully (!), I didn't find anything of organic origin in my son's tent. It was an eclectic mix of items, though, so I'll share it with you:

• 1 plastic teacup
• Several coins and paper money, both play and real
• 1 umbrella, red and slightly broken
• 4 magnets
• 1 bottle opener
• 1 wooden Frankenstein decoration
• 9 Lego pieces
• 1 flashlight
• 1 telescope
• 1 photo of himself at school
• 1 Twister spinner (correction: he says it's a clock)
• 1 card from a friend
• 1 headband with bouncy balls on springs (see photo below)
• 1 measuring tape
• 1 strip of 1-inch elastic, 3 feet long
• 1 partial set of alphabet flashcards
• 1 three-hole punch