This Tween Tuesday, Liz Atwood can't make a clean break with her son's old cast: A few weeks ago, I wrote that I was cleaning out the boys' rooms so I could paint and have the floors refinished. At last, the work is completed, but putting their things back in the closets and drawers is a bit like trying to put dirt back in a hole. The things just don't fit the same. Some of their things were tossed in the trash, some went in the recycling bin and others were donated to charity. Perhaps one of the strangest items I found I couldn't part with was the cast that had been on my older son's arm when he broke it playing on the monkey bars at school when he was 7. He's now nearly 14 and he couldn't see the point of keeping this relic. He wanted to throw it away, but I reminded him that somewhere on that dirty cast is a signature from a Baltimore Oriole. (I can't remember which one and the writing isn't legible.) I took my son to a ball game a few days after his injury ended his own baseball career for the summer. He was feeling sad and having an Oriole sign his cast boosted his spirits. But while I can tell him that we should hold on to it because it has a player's signature, I think the real reason I can't part with it is because I am reminded by how small he once was. He is now taller than I am. His arms are those of a man. But this cast is a tangible reminder that he was once a little boy. My own mother had her own peculiar stash of items from my childhood, including my baby teeth. At least I didn't go that far. Are there weird things of your kids' that you still hold on to?