Last night, after finishing our schoolwork around 6:30 p.m. (we got a late start), the boys and I curled up for a movie. (Not Star Wars, I pleaded. I’ll watch anything but Star Wars.) The boys happily agreed to watch one of my favorite childhood flicks – The Great Muppet Caper. Thank goodness Jason Segel decided to bring The Muppets back to life last year, because otherwise my boys might not have appreciated them as much as they should.
Anyway, I spent the first 15 minutes of the movie reciting lines and laughing so garishly, but it was my fine rendition of The Happiness Hotel song that made Jeremy finally turn around and politely say, “Mom, I can’t hear the movie.”
Oh, sorry.
I giggled and sang the rest of the movie to myself while the boys enjoyed every minute of it. By the end, Jackson had begun asking me (for the umpteenth time) for Muppets stuffed animals. My response has typically been “We’ll see,” or “Maybe for your birthday.” But it occurred to me that I might still have my old Kermit tucked away in my box of childhood mementos.
Sure enough, he was there.
It looks like Kermit has grown fur over the last 25 years.
Anyway, I’d be remiss if I didn’t show you my mother’s old space-saving idea for our toys when we lived in a smallish townhouse on an Army base in Virginia.
I don’t know exactly when she pulled this off, but I remember all of a sudden noticing that while I was at school/asleep/playing outside/not paying attention my stuffed animals had been strung up with yarn and plastic white rings. All of them. I’ve since been told that she was trying to be creative with space and hanging our animals from the ceiling (or wherever) was her best idea.
Jeremy was confused by this concept and remarked to me, “Well, Grandma always thinks she’s being clever.”
It’s no matter now, of course. In fact, it helps me to recognize my own stuffed animals among the boys’ things. Hey! There’s my old Winnie the Pooh with the ring in his head!