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!
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.
