Artist Extraordinaire

I have a Mommy crisis.

OK, so maybe not a crisis. In the grand scheme of things, I should not be losing sleep over this. And I'm not. I've put off making a decision for long enough. But I need some input. And the other adult in this house would just raise an eyebrow with a "Whuck?!" look on his face and go back to playing CityVille.

I'm on my own here. So I turn to you, my dedicated audience of ... well... we don't need to talk about that...

Sailboat? Christmas Tree?

My house is turning into a preschool art project clutterfest. And I don't know what to do about it. The safe areas (higher than little sister can reach) of our fridge are already covered, and so are the doors to the coat closet and basement. I had to put our Christmas cards on the front of the kitchen cabinets, but now even that is covered with home art projects, having been ousted from the normal refrigerator place of honor.

And I have a pile of new stuff he brought home after parents' night that I couldn't bring myself to hang anywhere.

I know that since I am an emotional mom and he is my first born, I should want to save everything for posterity's sake, so he can look back one day and see the apple he finger-painted when he was 3 that looks nothing like an apple (except it includes the colors of red and green).

Apple? Abstract Art? No clue.

But then there is the practical mom side. It says, hey dummy. You just cleared out your mother's closet that had 10 years of every bill or piece of mail she ever received, every card, picture, label, report, etc. that you ever created, along with clothes she hadn't worn in 20 years and her entire collection of holiday village figurines. And found four of your baby teeth individually wrapped, in Kleenex, in old earring boxes in the nightstand and armoire.

That and he's a boy. Granted he is the moody, emotional one of my two kiddos, but he's still a boy. How much is he really gonna appreciate whatever I save of his baby and young school years? I'm guessing not much. I've met his father. I know.

This could be anything... 

But isn't it a rite of passage to have to help clear out all your old crap from your parents' house? Would I be denying him some amount of nostalgia, even if it only lasts about 10 minutes? I'm sure I'm just bitter about my experience since no one should have to do that at the age of 23.

I have a friend who is taking pictures of all of her daughter's projects and making a photo book out of it for her to keep. Another has file boxes to keep all the projects her boys have made in preschool. Both sound plausible.

What should I do?