A young mom in India, one whom I have become extremely close to, has three little girls, ages 5, 3, and 1, and she is expecting her fourth child in October; we communicate frequently via WhatsApp, sharing joys and sorrows. We chat about faith, motherhood, friendships, our lives, and of course, raising children. She asked me, “What did you do with kids when they were small, for activities?”, referring to Mandy and Becky. I had to pause for a few moments to think about how to answer that—I am sure she was at her wits’ end with three little girls and being four months pregnant in one of the hottest places on earth. I did not want to give her some frivolous or abstract answer. Going back nearly years is quite a journey, and memories from those days are not easily retrieved from the memory bank—too many cobwebs.
Hitting the rapid rewind button…I was on active duty in the military from the time Mandy, the oldest, was conceived, up until they both had graduated from high school…pause tape at 1984-1986, when the girls would have been under the age of 5. Both Mandy and Becky were born in England while I was stationed there with the USAF until they were 2 ½ and 6 months, respectively. While there we had a cute little house with a fenced yard, and Mandy loved to kick this little blue ball around. She loved feeding her goldfish (sometimes pouring her cereal milk into the fish bowl—not good for Goldy), playing with blocks and stuffed animals, and riding her battery-powered bike around the living room. Remember the part about how Mandy loved kicking balls. Not our best moment as parents, we bought one of those “hamster balls” that you put the hamster in so he can run around the house and have exercise without pooping all over or getting away. Well, Mandy was not even 3 years old (we were not very smart parents, ok?) and we thought she would like a hamster and watching it in the ball instead of trying to squeeze the guts out of it by holding it too tightly. Right. She sees the hamster in the ball, giggles, and then screams BALL! and kicks it across the living room. Poor little hamster never had a chance. His brain was all scrambled I think. Rocking horse, books, bath toys, and rocks were also favorites, as well as anything within reach in the kitchen cupboards. When Becky came along Mandy loved “reading” to her baby sister, sharing her toys, hugging her, and dragging her across the floor by her head—also not a great thing for the baby. (Luckily Mandy outgrew this play behavior before she had her three girls).
Our next duty station was Minot, North Dakota; we arrived in June, 1984 and were blessed to be assigned to a cute duplex on base. Like I said earlier, I was active duty, so their dad watched them during the day; however, I would go home at lunchtime and rush home as soon as I could when I got off work to maximize my time with them. Becky loved getting all the potatoes out of the cupboard and scattering baking pans and cookpots all over the kitchen floor, while Mandy played with her books and sang songs on her karaoke microphone. I read to them every night, and we would invent magical stories using stuffed animals as characters in the fantasies. They loved “helping” wash dishes, putting clean laundry into the toilet, and swimming in a baby pool we had in the backyard. In winter (in North Dakota, from September until late May, with temperatures dropping to 30 degrees below zero), outside time was limited to prevent loss of fingertips and noses; I would spend 30 minutes bundling them up in snowsuits, sweaters, multiple pairs of socks, boots, gloves, etc., for about 5 minutes of outdoor snow fun, during which time they would inevitably lose a mitten, step in a snowdrift and lose their boots, and pee in their snowsuit. Understandably, winter time was indoor time, and they would create elaborate pretend circuses, zoos, magic shows, and plays, even charging us to attend their zoo of caged stuffies under chairs and wash baskets. Puzzles, many times made of cut up old magazines and Christmas cards, were great fun, as were the science experiments we conducted using food coloring and milk, baking soda and vinegar, and balloons.
There were so many moments, precious moments, that were some of the best times in my life...
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