Nathan came to me and told me he bit his tongue. I told him I could give him a special ice cube to suck on to make the pain go away. He was curious about what I was going to do with the ice cube and forgot about his pain. I asked if he still needed the ice cube and he assured me he did. I wrapped the ice cube in a small piece of paper towel cut down to the right size.
When Andrew wanted to know why he was sucking on the ice cube, he proudly showed his injured tongue. You can see how much pain he was in.
Andrew was very concerned about his brother.
He shared Nathan's pain.
And convinced Gramma he needed an ice cube of his own.
The boys discovered Grampa has a secret staircase in his house. There's a staircase in the garage leading to the basement. Grampa had it blocked off when the boys were too little to do the stairs on their own. When Rebecca moved out, yet again, the blockade was removed. The boys wanted to know where it lead to, so we went down to see. Their faces looked as if they had entered Santa's workroom. Slowly, they realized it was Grampa's workroom. They were absolutely speechless. Once they knew the steps were there, they each made at least a dozen trips up and down.
They are very impressed by all Grampa's tools. My Grandpa Froehle had a workspace in his garage. I used to play in it for hours, when I was little, my favorite thing was to put a piece of wood in a vice and saw it in half. I still have some of his tools. I can remember him doing his magic as he fixed something. I was so impressed that he knew what all the tools were and what to do with them. The boys often go through Grampa's tool chest and shelves naming all of Grampa's tools. His sheet metal cutter is "blue scissors." Andrew likes to nap with his toy drill. The seed is planted.
The boys love to play with wrapping paper tubes. Grampa saves them for the boys as a treat, since they don't last long. Andrew's tube became a victim of destruction, so he took it to Grampa and asked him to fix it. Grampa explained it couldn't be fixed. Andrew accepted that and said, "Then we'll have to buy a new one." This is a cultural shift.
I still have the waffle iron Terry's mother passed to me when her children replaced hers. I just received a new waffle maker for my birthday. I reasoned that I can always use a second as the family grows. We kept the same microwave for 29 years. It was as old as Ryan Joseph. Terry used to fix that thing over and over. It was a challenge to keep it going. At one point he had to remake the whole door handle because there were no parts available.
I think it's why we're still together. We don't replace anything.
I think it's why we're still together. We don't replace anything.
Our children thought of Terry as someone who could fix anything. We had a used two wheel bike with a banana seat (a classic) that had been passed from Ryan Joseph to Matthew (who learned to ride it without training wheels before turning three) to Rebecca. It had not had an easy life. The seat would slip down, causing the adjutable metal poles on the sides to touch the ground and spark as Rebecca flew down the streets, her hair and dresses billowing. She brought the bike to her father and asked him to fix it. He explained it was old, had been fixed too many times and needed to be thrown away. She listened to him without wavering and told him, "I know you can fix it." She went into the house and he stood there with the bike in his hands. Thirty minutes later, he told her that the bike was ready. He had a reputation to live up to.
The best toys are those that allow the mind to grow.
They also feel more natural.
Are colorful.
And give you a sense of satisfaction.
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