Those are Foxy and Fuzzy Button having tea, chicken, and peas. Hey, I didn't make the menu. I let it stand for several days after it was set up.
I like having toys around my home. It makes it a home and not just a condominium. Mister is old enough that he no longer has toys set up. No roads or train tracks snaking around. No cities of lego castles.
Lamb picked up the slack for a while with the Thomas tracks. But she's tired of that, having moved on to more girly Littlest Pet Shop cities. Although to my glee, she has taken to the helicopter from my youth that I bought for Mister years ago. And stuffed animals, of course--lots of stuffed animals. She makes little homes for them with old boxes. And has tea parties, naturally.
I tripped over and broke a little stage for the LPS last night, cracking and snapping off a section. Luckily, model glue took care of the repairs and other than the scars, it works fine and looks fine if you don't look closely.
One day, I won't have those little toy emergencies. There won't be toys on shelves and in boxes, and deployed about in mid-play waiting for the next session. One day, Lamb too will be old enough to make her toy footprint disappear, too. And eventually, both of my children will grow up and move out--to college and then into the world. It's not like my children are with me all the time. But the toys are a visible sign that this is their home, too.
I'm so used to thinking of a home as one with children and the signs of their presence that I wonder how I'll view where I live when even the symbols of their presence are gone?
Not that I dwell on that thought. I am happy to have my children right here and right now. Growing up is natural and I will learn to accept the joys of each stage of their lives as I watch them grow up. I would be unnatural and wrong to want to freeze them at a point in time where plastic and furry toys are their lives and mean I am a much bigger part of their lives. But the transitions of both Lamb and Mister are in sight without feeling what will come next.
Still, I have grandchildren to look forward to, I guess. Though Lord knows what their toys will be and whether they will create the symbolism of children at play.
