Little People Evicted

After such a heavy subject yesterday, I thought we could all use a post of complete nonsense. These are just some funny things that I’ve been witness to this week alone. Here’s a fly’s view of life in our house, and in our second home…our van.

Alex mentioned the only princess costume Meredith is lacking is Ariel, aka The Little Mermaid, for those of you not yet indoctrinated. Meredith said that was fine, she thought it would be hard to walk with a mermaid fin, but she would very much like an Ariel swimming suit. To hear Meredith tell it, we passed up several opportunities to purchase one last time we were in WDW. Alex told her, that wasn’t a problem and he would buy her one during our next trip, “So long as it’s under $10!”

Before Meredith received several sets of miniature princesses for Christmas and her birthday, she was really into Little People. We have an extensive collection, and Alex never showed much of an interest. He just liked to collect the sets. He had a Little Town map and he was determined to have all the buildings pictured. Alex’s most dreaded words are, “Barn sold separately.”


Meredith uses the buildings and the people for their intended purpose. She creates scenarios and talks in a high pitched voice. Since the princesses came to town, we haven’t seen much of the short and squat Little People tribe. This week, Meredith got down all the buildings and was happily playing when I realized she didn’t have any people or animals. I asked her if she’d like me to get out the people who lived and worked in the buildings. Meredith declined, and when I took a closer look, I found Belle and Prince Charming welcoming their subjects to the “royal” barn. Alex had a friend, Brenton, over to play yesterday. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but this is the first time Alex has chosen a friend to come over. Normally, it’s some well orchestrated play date the other mom and I have arranged. I know the family, know the kid, and know he/she is unlikely to burn down our house.

This was uncharted territory for me, but I know Brenton from school and he’s a doll. Whip smart, and very polite. The three of us were having lunch and Brenton was wowing Alex and me with his amazing math skills. Mind you, I’m easily impressed when it comes to math, but then he moved on to tell me how much he loves to read. He read every thing with a word on it in our kitchen. I was sitting there thinking how glad I was that of all the kids in Alex’s class, this is the one who wanted to come over to play. I was beaming. Then, as I was clearing the dishes, the dream died.

Brenton told me Alex must be confused because he still believed in Santa Claus. Pardon me?! I immediately told him of course Alex believes in Santa because Santa is very real in our house; all the while surveying Alex’s face for any trace of doubt. Alex told Brenton Santa had to be real. “We host a Santa party every year, for crying out loud! He sits by our fire place with his wife.” I whisked Brenton off for a look see at the Webber Family Christmas albums, and sure enough, “You are right Mrs. Webber! That’s the same Santa each year! How do you know him?! My brothers are wrong!” No kidding.