For the past week while the grandlittles were visiting, the Grand Princess, Mary Ruth would make coffee for everyone. She especially seemed to like making it for Uncle Michael. Son never complained about doing any thing the little girl requested so she soon attached herself to him. He was her best buddy while she was here. She would climb the stairs each morning to knock on his door. "Wake up, Uncle Michael!" was followed immediately by "Do you want to play with me?" This routine was then followed by the two of them coming down the stairs hand in hand. She would happily go about "making" his coffee. Once a cup of coffee was placed on the table, she would sweeten it and add cream. Try as she might, the tiny hands of a (not quite) three year old could never grasp the containers well. This morning, I was busy helping with the packing for their long trip back home when I heard an excited squeal. Mary Ruth had taken it upon herself to add the sugar and creamer to Son's coffee.
The startling squeal was followed by "It snowed at MawMaw's house! It snowed at MawMaw's house! Come play in the snow with me, Uncle Michael!" Oh, the pure innocence of tiny tots! I had the giggles by this time and did not have the heart to clean up the mess. Let the little one enjoy her "snow"! I did, however, explain numerous times that this was only allowed to happen AT MawMaw's house and no where else! I can only imagine the chaos that the two grandlittles could create if they ever got ahold to an entire bag of sugar or flour! "Snow" would be everywhere and most adults would not look to fondly upon the grand mess. Me? Nah, doesn't bother me. It was only sugar and that is not difficult to clean up after the playtime was over.
Now the Little Bayou House is too quiet. The playroom sits empty...devoid of any happiness. There are no squeals of delight, no scampering of little feet and no cries from a baby for his mama. I miss all of these sounds. I miss the hugs, the giggles and even the runny noses! I miss my grandlittles!
The many hours of work (and play) have proven to be quite the success. The converted bedroom to playroom seems to be a hit with the Grandlittles along with their parents. The room has apparently become a "meeting place" for everyone in the household as the Grand Princess, Mary Ruth cooks imaginary food for us on her woodstove. Today, we had a lovely meal of strawberry tea, ice cream spin tops, coffee and baked lemons. I admit that it was delightful and the baked lemons were divine! This was a new food for me even in playland. I have never had baked lemons before but it does make me ponder if there is such a recipe. Perhaps MawMaw should check a few cookbooks and perhaps MawMaw can learn a thing or two from the Royal Grand Princess.
Baby Mark especially loved a tiny wooden wagon that held assorted blocks and spin tops. Included in this mishmash of things there are a couple of dreidels. I have no idea where or when I acquired these but the Grand Prince seemed enamored with the things. He seemed to be happy as long as his daddy was spinning the dreidels on the hardwood floor. I did make one rather abrupt discovery with these, though. Dreidels spinning on hardwood floors at 5 am are deafening! Which is rather funny because they are hardly noticeable at 8 am. Same dreidels, same floors.....no discernible noise at midmorning. The Royal Grand Prince thoroughly enjoyed shoving a few of the other toys about the floor until he found a book to eat. Such fun!
All in all, I think the room is a success. Mary Ruth has fully claimed it as "her" room and the contents as "her" toys. She is absolutely right....it is and I would not have it any other way. Now if I can just get her mommy and daddy to take "her" toys back home with them, all would be well! In the meantime, I will breathe a sigh of relief and sit back to enjoy time spent with these beautiful babies!.....oh, and with their parents!
I just finished the new playroom in the nick of time! The grandlittles (along with mom and dad) are on their way to the Bayou. As far as I know, I have things ready for "little people" (as Son calls them) to be here. Without spending a dime, I managed to pull together enough toys from the family stash of "heirlooms" for the room to be filled with joyous times. I am hoping the grandlittles find it as fun as can be and know that MawMaw would do it all again for them if the need arises.
I have not told my son and daughter-in-law about the room's transformation. I wanted it to be a surprise for them as well. Maybe this was a bad idea as they made a request to use the room for the baby's sleeping quarters. Oops! Sorry! I removed the bed to make more play space! But all will work itself out accordingly as it always does.
The playroom is filled with not only toys from days past but also has a reading area filled with books from when my kids were tykes. One book in particular should bring back a few memories. A small book called "Sun Up" was my oldest son's (dad of the grandlittles) favorite when he was a mere tyke himself. This is the book that he always wanted me to read to him at bedtime. This is, also, the book that has a story behind it. One day when he was about three years old, Mark (son) was in his room reading aloud. I was amazed! My son was the smartest kid on earth! He was reading fluently at age three! I went in and listened. He was so proud to read the book to me for a change. All was great until I realized that he was actually holding the book upside down! He was NOT reading at all! He had memorized the book word for word and was merely reciting it to me. For a moment, my bubble was burst then it dawned on me that for him to have such a good memory was amazing in itself! It did not matter that the book was upside down....it did not matter that he was reciting instead of reading....he had developed a love for books and knowledge and that was all that did matter! He was the smartest kid on earth...at least in his mom's eyes.
Now the little book sits next to his very first bunny rabbit as it waits for his children to find the joy from their dad's childhood. This should be a very interesting visit as I watch a dad and his children discover things...the kids will discover the love for the past and their dad will rediscover his past. Time to sit back and watch....and enjoy.
The playroom for the grandlittles is just about complete except for the fact that I keep finding things to put in it. Since I am in the mood to unclutter a bit, I have tackled the craft room. That is the room that seems to collect anything that doesn't belong anywhere else in the house....or shed...or greenhouse...or storeroom. Don't ask...it is just that terrible but I am making some bit of headway against the mountain of stuff. I am determined so the chore is going nonstop. Things ARE finding homes in other areas such as the garbage bin!
Several long-lost or forgotten items were found with glee, though. Patterns! These are mainly crocheted pieces that I saved to duplicate at some point. Since things such as gardening, canning the produce and the all-important clue hunt kept me quite busy, the patterns were shoved to the far corner of the craft room. Finding them has made me anxious to start my needlework once again. So the cleaning must be knocked out in the next few days or I will probably get sidetracked again.
One of the crocheted pieces that I saved as a pattern wound up in the playroom. Years ago, I was rather ambitious and made a lot of our Christmas gifts. My oldest son (the dad of my grandlittles!) was nothing but a tyke of three years of age when I crocheted him a kangaroo and joey. He loved it! Don't ask why I decided on a kangaroo because I cannot give you an answer. I just did. And to beat all....it is gold. Yep, times were tough back then and I used whatever I had on hand to entertain my little fellow. He did not complain about having a golden kangaroo and I suppose that I did no lasting harm to his perspective of roos in general. I will have to ask if he still thinks they are gold. That would be terrible!
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the little joey was still clinging inside his mommy's pouch. Now any future crocheted kangaroos can be complete in being in the family way. No roo is ever complete without a joey! The grandlittles might find this piece a bit disgusting since it makes no noise, has no bright lights and does not dance around the room. Toys, these days, seem to be required to be irritating to parents before they are marketed for children. Gone are the days of imaginative play, the days of homemade toys and the days of peace and quiet! The grandlittles might be bored crazy here at the Little Bayou House. We have no TV, no near neighborhood children and no bells and whistles. We do have tons of playthings that require imaginations! On second thought, Mama Kangaroo had better learn to dance.
The story continues. My days are filled with trying to transform a bedroom into a playroom of sorts in time for the grandlittles visit. This is not as easy as taking out furniture and putting in toys. Taking out the furniture was simple and took less work that trying to think like a tot. My feeble, old brain has not had to deal with toddlers in a long time. I am not sure what they find entertaining.
Today, I decided that the old set of play dishes and cooking pots might occupy the two tykes for a short while. They have a grand play kitchen at home which has all of the up-to-date appliances and such. It is such a pretty little thing! I wish my own kitchen was so nice! The play things that I have for the kiddos date back twenty five years or so with the exception of the stove. Even though that looks old, it is new. Son made a great faux wood-burning stove for the past clue hunt and has now downsized it to work for toddlers. Yep, here on the Bayou, the kiddos will cook on a woodstove!
The tiny pots and pans were bought for Darling Daughter years ago. She had no interest in such things and played with them only a few times. It was Son (being just a little over a year younger) who decided that he needed to be a "chef". Since the play stove was in Darling Daughter's room and she refused to have him cooking there, the thing was moved to my kitchen. In fact, the stove was moved INTO a kitchen cabinet! We have one large pantry cabinet that fits in the corner of the room. A couple of bottom shelves were removed and this made the perfect spot to create a play kitchen. The cupboard was large enough to house not only the play stove but also a tiny table and two chairs. Son was content to stay in his little kitchen while I worked in mine. It was great as I knew exactly where he was and what he was doing at all times. (So...there you have it. Put your kid in the pantry and let him cook. It is great!)
Now these little metal pots and pans will be housed in the corner of the playroom (which just happens to be Darling Daughter's old room. How ironic that she banned the stuff from her room when she was a child only to have it return years later!) A small shelf of my great aunt's was hung next to the stove to hold tiny plates, cups and saucers and bowls. Tomorrow, Son will build a pot rack for the other side of the stove and the "kitchen" will be ready for the great chefs to come! What fun this has been!
Oh...and the little rocking chair? That is my oldest brother's little chair that he used some sixty years ago. Wow! I wonder if other folks hang on to so many neat things. The Little Bayou House is filled to the brim with these interesting items and it is so good to be able to use them.
I suppose that some folks will accuse me of living in the past. It is probably true. At times, I ponder if I was born in the wrong era. The newfangled ways of doing things not only befuddles me but usually aggravates me a bit. I prefer the tried and true methods of most everything. This is fine by me but it does seem to irritate some folks a bit. "You are living in the olden days" is a phrase that I hear quite often. Oh, well. Too bad.
This bit of nostalgia does not just apply to my ways of doing things, it also becomes evident with items that I hold dear. I am still in the midst of creating a play area for the grandlittles and their upcoming visit. Most of the furniture was stripped from Darling Daughter's old bedroom to provide plenty of space. This left me with a blank room that was in need of some place to stash a multitude of what are now called "retro toys". These toys are ones that my kids used when they were toddlers. The "antique toys" term applies to my toys and those of my parents and grandparents. (Just thought I would toss that in there for clarity!) Wow! I am antique! Anyway, while contemplating the problem, I had a brilliant idea! Kid Town! I could use Kid Town as a low shelf!
Kid Town is a very sturdy low bench that is from my grandmother's childhood. The term "Kid Town" was affixed to the bench because it was on this bench that all the kids sat during meals. The bench was pulled up to the old table on a farm that her folks (my great-grandparents) had out "north of the Bay". These great-grandparents had a fine old house in Biloxi but also had a sprawling farm about twenty miles northward. During the summer months, most of the kids were plunked out at the farm to take care of the farm animals and plant the crops. My great-grandparents would travel back and forth once a week or so to check on the kids. Yep, it does seem strange but that was the norm back in the day. Kids were a form of free labor. It was not unusual for parents to send kids far away to pick cotton, strawberries or whatever crop was in season. My grandmother and younger siblings were sent to do the farming while her older siblings stayed to help in the hat shop that Great-grandfather owned. It was just good business practice to do such. No one batted an eye at the kids fending for themselves for a week at a time. The bench was a major piece of furniture albeit a handmade one.
Years later, my grandmother fell heir to the bench and she used it to hold her potted ferns and begonias. My granddaddy kept the bench in repair and later it was passed on to my mother. Mom, like her mother, used it to hold plants except when there was a huge family gathering. Then, as many times in its past, the bench was called into use to seat kids at the dining table. Years later, I became the proud owner of Kid Town and its colorful history. I have been labeled the "Keeper of Weird and Wonderful Things" so perhaps Kid Town falls in that category.
As Mark and I toted the heavy bench into the room, I thought of how fitting it was that a bench called Kid Town was being placed in a playroom of sorts. A new generation of kiddos will be making use of the bench that is well over a hundred years old! Being as I do not know the origin of the bench and the exact date when it was made, I can only estimate but this is at least the fifth generation of kids to use the bench....it may well be a sixth or seventh. Yep, I am the Keeper of Weird and Wonderful Things and I do probably live in those olden days. Face it....I AM antique!
