Thanks to having a little one I routinely stumble upon these little vignettes played out all around our house. I never know what I will find. On this occasion it was a Siamese and Husky having tea with jam and bread. I decided to snap a quick picture before I stepped over them, offering my apologies, as I was headed upstairs. We have a half Blue Point Siamese and wolf/husky hybrids who periodically share a meal together … more often than not purloined from my little one when she is not paying attention. I love coming across whatever she is doing. She knows she is supposed to put her toys away before bed and generally she is pretty good about it. I just do not like stepping on a bunch of tiny things barefoot or stumbling over something in the middle of the floor unexpectedly. And it seems as if it always happens in the middle of the night when I cannot see. To avoid getting hurt I have taken to using my iPhone as a flashlight and sweeping the floor with it like a detective investigating suspicious activity. I have found plastic fish with Native American bears, a wolf enjoying pizza with a lamb, baby dolls with their bottles in her shopping cart, rabbits having vegetables with foxes, and rock collections from our koi pond. I have seen knights conversing with pink dragons in a castle, rainbow colored ponies, and little rubber turtles in a soap dish. The wolfies will lay down beside wherever our little one is playing and just listen to her. It is the sweetest thing. I have overheard her “in church,” “cooking,” “taking a bath,” and “reading” bedtime stories with her toys. I notice it is a reflection of her own life and the things we do together. When I was her age I used to line up all my Fisher Price little people on top of our TV console and play with them for hours. I also remember having a whole plastic set of tiny babies I played with that had cribs which sort of reminded me of the plastic cartons tomatoes used to come in. The English singer-songwriter Kate Bush said:
“I had an incredibly full life with my imagination: I used to have all sorts of trolls and things; I had a wonderful world around my toys and invented people. I don’t mean I had imaginary friends; I just had this big imagination thing going on. I didn’t need any imaginary friends, because I had so much other stuff going on.”
That is how my childhood was for me and it seems how my little one’s childhood is shaping up to be as well, which makes me happy. And now, if you will excuse me, I have a date with a curly-haired little girl who is serving afternoon tea with jam and bread.
