The New Tale of Peter Rabbit

Lily spent last weekend with us.  She’s 2 years old and a delightful child – easy going, extremely well-mannered, has a sweet loving spirit and is a great conversationalist.  She is the grandchild of my husband’s only daughter which makes her even more special.

We had a delightful Saturday.  After picking up Miss Lil right after breakfast we headed over to Target to check out the children’s clothes and shoes.  We found some cute outfits and just the right pair of close-toed rubber soled shoes for our morning outing at Zilker Park.  Such fun to take her on the Zilker Zephyr and ride the train through the park, looking down at the canoeists and dogs on Town Lake and enjoying the park musician who played guitar and harmonica at the same time, hat cocked sideways over his smiling face.  I had wanted to feed the ducks, who used to always hang out by the canoes, but there were so many dogs I think they were in hiding.  Lily was just as happy tossing our pieces of bread to the birds – the doves and pigeons became her new best friends.  As they flocked around her on the ground she told Grandpa, “Look, they’re chewing the bread!”   And she proudly announced there were so many there were “five birdies”!

Playing on the playground brought back memories of doing that with my children.  It’s wonderful to bring out a mental photo album any time you want and enjoy special times from the past while living similar times.  Only now I don’t have the time constraints of a young mother and I have Grandpa to help me carry and watch for danger.   Sweet.

Leaving Zilker, it was on to Sandy’s for some good old fashioned burgers.  They didn’t have a kid size burger so we got Lily a corn dog.  She wasn’t sure what to do with it, but as soon as I showed her how to hold the stick, dip the dog in catsup and take a bite, she was all over it.  Sans breading though -  she wanted to get right to the meat of the matter.

After nap we decided to beat the heat by playing in the kiddie pool on the back porch.  It got pretty crowded with Lily and Grandpa when Duke had to get in on the water play fun.   But had no problem with that.  A few plastic measuring cups, spoon and a funnel, keep the water hose running and you’ve got hours of 2 yr old entertainment.  You don’t have to have a fancy pool or custom playscape in your backyard to have fun with kids, sometimes people forget that.  What they want is you and your undivided attention; toys and things are a distant second on their list.  Well, time, love and undivided attention are just what Grandpa and Grandma have.   What a great day.

But wait, there’s more.  At bedtime Lily likes Grandpa to read her a story while I get the pack n play set up (I can face one again, it’s been a month since The Rollaway Cart) and straighten up the grandkids room.  She chose several books for him, but the one that had me rolling on the floor was The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Normally this is not a very funny story, but the way Grandpa read it that night was … vintage Grandpa.

Grandpa’s rendition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter’s classic story, was not exactly Uncle Remus style.  It was more of a country, on-the-verge-of-redneck version – a twist only he could pull off.   Here is what I recall of his tale – I can’t remember it word for word because I ended up laughing so hard it was difficult to concentrate.  I don’t hear so well with laugh tears rolling down my cheeks.

As his story begins, Peter and his friends decide they want a new corvette.  On the way to the car house [car house?  Really?] they stop to eat some cabbage.  They all get gas, and one of the rabbits gets some thing called the “squirts”.  They continue their journey and make comments to each other about how bad they smell, with a lot of boy noises accompanying that dialogue.  I don’t know how to type those sounds, just use your imagination.  On the way they stop at Grandpa’s house to visit “old Duke” and get some barbeque, apparently the perfect food for little rabbits suffering from gas.   They ate the barbeque and it was so good they never left and they all lived at Grandpa’s house with old Duke happily ever after.

Lily was riveted.  Seriously.  I couldn’t believe it, she never took her eyes off the pages as he turned them.  She listened carefully as he read enthusiastically, with great style and fun voice inflections and only brief pauses to think of what to say next.  Hey, this is the child who announced at supper that “Grandpa is a yummy, yummy cooker” and kept repeating “Thank you for this wonderful supper”.  Of course she’s going to love his new version of Peter Rabbit. 

Trouble is I’ll probably never be able to read her the real story; she’ll think I’ve got it wrong……