Letter from Bambi

Dear Emily,

Hi!  I sure miss you, you always play with me so much when you come for a visit and I like having so much time off my shelf.  It’s funny, Grandma hasn’t put me back on the shelf yet like she usually does.  In fact, none of the other animals or dolls are back in their places in the grandkids room either, it’s really weird.  Grandpa is napping and Grandma is doing her writing.  But since while I’m free I’m going to take a walk around the house and see what’s going on. 

I’m on the floor in the grandkids room by the door, right where you left me.  Ramona is lying beside me, face down and with both her shoes off, as usual.  That big basket in the corner is stuffed with all the kids blankets, and church baby, both Winnie the Poohs, Mickey and Grandma Bear are all in there too.  Grandma Bear looks pretty squished because Pooh is right on top of her.  Raggedy Ann is flopped over, half on a shelf and half on the floor.  The Tiggers are next to the shelf with Piglet, and one of the little Cliffords is excited because he gets to be on the top shelf for a change, where Molly put him.  His left ear is cocked all the way up like he’s listening for you to come up the stairs.  A LOT of the books are spread out and relaxing on the floor, couch, in the cradle and under the rocking chair – they look happy.  Grandma says where is Emily when she needs her to organize this room?

The computer room looks pretty much the same, except there is a really cool picture of purple mountains majesty on the cedar chest.  Did you draw that?  It’s really pretty.  Oh, and some of Pete’s food is in his water bowl, plus his chase-balls are under the desk.  He isn’t here though – I haven’t seen him in days except two times when he raced down the hallway like he was being chased.  He looked kinda crazy.

I went into the bathroom to get a drink; it doesn’t look the same.  There are toys in the bathtub; when Grandma takes her shower there are never any toys in there, I guess she doesn’t like to play in the bath.  I saw the picture of the Biggest Bubble Bath ever that you and Lily had – WOW, that was a lot of bubbles Grandpa made for you!

When I saw the building blocks out on the upstairs back porch I just had to go outside and see what you built.  It looks like a school!   A School for Fish!  There is a room for the fish, one for the dolphins, the sharks and whales are all in the same class, and the squid went in the room with all the snakes.  Two of those snakes have their heads up over the walls, I think they are looking for you and Molly.  The fish are still very clean from the bath you gave them.  Also there’s a playground next to the school.  The turtles got together and are talking about whether they want to make the long walk over to the swings.  That is a BIG school, it must have taken you a long time to build it.  I think Grandma is going to leave it up for a while.

I found your finger paintings in Grandma & Grandpa’s room.  Wow, really colorful pictures of the sun and all the planets.  Grandma said she likes the yellow sun one the best, but I like the one with all the red handprints on it.

Gosh, the house seems so quiet!  I thought no one was downstairs until I heard Grandpa snoring a little.  Thankfully he doesn’t snore as loud as Grandma does sometimes.   They must be having another dinner party tonight, the table is set for 5 plus Molly’s chair.  For some reason Baby is laying down on the table, and the little Red Wagon is parked crooked next to the window.  And you know that little wooden puzzle wagon Molly was dragging around everywhere?  I don’t see the wagon but those wooden blocks are everywhere.   I heard Grandma say just leave them and she’ll collect them as she finds them.  She doesn’t seem to be in a hurry and was smiling when she said it.  But I like it when the blocks are all on the wagon and they make that picture of the pig on the farm. 

Say, what happened to all the juice boxes in the frig?  And the strawberries and blueberries?  Plus we are almost out of eggs, and there is no chocolate milk anywhere.  You should come back because that’s when Grandma buys the good stuff.  I did find a few goldfish under Molly’s chair, and Grandma always has animal crackers.  Duke is outside eating his chicken bones and saying “yum, yum”.  Well, he said “woof, woof”, but he means yum, yum. 

The markers and stickers are still on your little blue table in the living room.  Looks like Molly left right in the middle of coloring a picture, her coloring book is still open to that page with the gingerbread man on it.  She was using brown.  But the TV has a boring golf game on it.  I liked it better when you were here, at least if the TV was on I could watch a little Mickey, or Pluto, or Winnie the Pooh.  Remember when we had movie nights?  We got to see 101 Dalmatians and Robin Hood, but my favorite was Bambi, of course :)

Outside the birds are all over the feeder and in the bird bath.  Big Daddy blue jay is taking a bath, and the sparrows are eating their lunch.  They said thank you for watching out for the squirrels to keep them away from their food, and for reminding Grandma when to put more food in.  And I see you got to go swimming on the back porch too.  The little pool still has water in it, and the kids broom is lying in the water.  Boy, you did a GREAT job cleaning out that pool, Grandpa says it’s never been so clean.  And you sure got him with the water-splash game – he was SO wet!!!

Nothing much happening here, so I guess I’ll go back upstairs.  Hey, there’s Grandma, still writing.  I think I’ll sneak up behind her and see what she is writing about.  Oh, I see.  She’s making her stories about while you were here.  Monday you got to go to IHOP for pancakes for breakfast – in your pajamas!!  Hey, how come you didn’t take me?  I like pancakes too, you know.  Then you went on a long grocery store trip and she said you and Molly got to ride in a car in front of the grocery cart.  Did you and Molly both drive?

Tuesday she took you to Zilker Park to ride the train.  You rode all through the park, and went in 3 tunnels!  One was underground, and the other two were very narrow and under a bridge with cars on it.  She said it was a little scary in the narrow tunnel because there was a steep dropoff down into Town Lake.  But the conductor blew the whistle and went very slowly so it was okay.  Then the train went around a bend where a man was playing his guitar and a harmonica at the same time.  Molly sat very still and watched everything very carefully.  She said you like the playground – it’s really, really big and has a fire truck on it.  And you got to have a picnic lunch!  But the pigeons wouldn’t let Molly catch them, even though she tried. 

On Wednesday we baked cookies, remember?  I was there for that because you pulled up a chair just for me.  You cut cookies in the shapes of the Three Bears and Goldilocks, little lamb, a cat, a moon, a sun, an Easter egg and a butterfly.  Grandpa bear cookie is really big.  I like the blue icing you made, and the different color sprinkles you decorated with.  Molly’s cookie is kind of messy.   After we ate a cookie we went upstairs for Library Day.  You picked out the books, you read some and then Grandma read some and all of us animals got to listen.  I like Library Day.   And I liked it when you set us up to play school too.

I wish I could have gone with you to Grandma’s work on Thursday.  Her friends liked having you and Molly come for a visit, and she said you got to jump across big steps over water and see a waterfall.  That afternoon you went to Brentwood Park and got to swim in a big pool all by yourself.  Molly was supposed to be in the baby pool, and she did stay in it when you were there.  But when you went to the big pool, she wanted to go to – she just wants to do whatever you do!  The playground there was fun, nice and shady and the swings were just the right size. 

Friday was the day you got to go to the bookstore.  I saw the Cinderella castle you made with your mom, and the Aladdin book with the 3D glasses.  I really liked the Dollar Bill books, where Junior learns how to save, spend and give.  The fit perfectly in your new backpack Aunt Tracy gave you.

Speaking of Aunt Tracy, you and she made some beautiful chalk art on the front porch.  I can see the rainbow, the butterflies, and the house with everyone in your family from the dining room window.  And the pictures you and Lily drew are still there too.  She said she really enjoyed watching Robin Hood with you.  I can’t believe she had never seen it before!  Uncle Walter likes the pictures too, and he liked playing with you and Molly in the grandkids room.  He said Molly kept jumping on him and wanting to “ride”.

Grandma is writing that she had a great eight days with her girls.  She loved it that your mommy came for a visit too.  She says she’s already planning her vacation days next year so she can have you for another visit.  Do you think you can come back before next summer?  That’s a long time before I get to see you, and it won’t be long before I’m tucked back on my shelf next to my book again and can't get out.  I miss you, write back when you can.

Love,

Bambi

P.S.                 What is Pinterest?

P.P.S.             Every time I hear the doves cooing I hear Molly saying “Owl, owl”.  You and I know the sound is cooing, but Molly thought it was an owl “who-whoing!!”

P.P.P.S.         Grandma still has her light pink fingernails and bright pink toenails to match yours.

P.P.P.P.S.     Grandma cried some tears after you all left – she wasn’t hurt and I didn’t see any reason why she should cry but she did.  Weird.