Toy Stories

At this point in the packing game, most of the girls' toys are boxed up--and although we are surviving just fine, here is a tribute to some of our most memorable toys:

Below is a red truck I received for Christmas when I was about four years old--apparently I had asked for a red truck above anything else. My mother kept it this whole time and brought it over last year for Ramona and Mika to play with. Ramona likes to use it for transporting her little ponies. (One of the ponies is from the E.R. in Iowa, the other is from Aunt "Ramia.")

Next is a "family portrait" of the more favored dolls in the house--from left to right we have Barbie, who used to belong to me, then Kristyn the ballerina from a Happy Meal, then Tiana from Cousin Aubrey, and Baby Tiana and Steven from Christmas '12. Steven only came with a pair of swim trunks so I got to design and sew his khakis and blue shirt with an over-sized button.

Also, the doll family needed a place to live, so we built them a house out of cardboard boxes. It isn't exactly a palace, but it does offer some nice features. The main floor has a skylight (and contains a handmade dolly bed from Teresa) . . .

. . . the upstairs bedroom opens up to a balcony . . .

. . . and the bathroom is newly remodeled.

Another toy family created by Ramona is the PEZ family. Forest at one point in his teens began collecting PEZ dispensers--most of which were abandoned at Parry's house, resurrected, then inherited by our girls several years later. Among them, Ramona determined that Batman was the daddy, Wonder Woman was the mommy, Lucy from Peanuts was the "big girl," Pebbles Flintstone was the baby, and Sylvester from Looney Tunes was their pet. (I like to think that Forest and I inspired the perception of superhero parents).

One of Mika's favorite toys is a play kitchen from Grandma. She loves cooking strange concoctions over the stove top, which makes boiling and frying sounds when pans are placed on it. Ramona always "cooks" me a fabulous fruit salad. In connection with the kitchen, the girls play with an old bake set that my grandparents sent me one year when I was about Ramona's age. The baked goods in the set all came scented, and remarkably, the little cake, brownie, and cookie all still smell like vanilla.

 

Yet another popular toy consists of a metal cookie sheet with Disney princess magnets (from Grandma) and My Little Pony magnets (from Baachan). It has brought hours of entertainment, as well as hours of searching for missing magnets.

 

Below are some bath toys Ramona received from one of my cello students as a baby. Walid the whale, M.C. the hammerhead shark, Sea Biscuit the seahorse, Russ the walrus, P. Diddy the puffer fish, Renee the manta ray, Oreo the killer whale, Crabman the hermit crab, Gwen the penguin, the Stella the starfish. (Forest and I are responsible for their names, if you hadn't guessed)

Here is a toy airplane that was a hand-me-down from Ramona's friend Brody. When my parents came to visit in March, they brought some of my old Little People with them so the plane could have some passengers. Ramona was thrilled, and immediately asked Jii what the boy's name was, so he came up with "Barnaby." Ramona then named the girl "Lisa." Those two humpty-dumpty-ish characters have been on many adventures since.

 

As I look at all of these pictures, I feel grateful that our daughters have it so good--that their main job right now is to play and dream and imagine, and that they have so many opportunities (and toys) to help them do those things. I feel grateful that I can be close by at this stage of their lives, to be able to observe them and play beside them sometimes, too. There is a strange satisfaction in seeing your child play with the same toys you played with once upon a time--it's almost like that same pure, wondrous joy from your childhood is reborn somehow, and reminds you how precious these years truly are.