Last weekend, my husband and I delighted in having our newborn twin’s older ‘little’ sister for the night.  Early the next morning we opened wooden window blinds to discover twenty turkeys loitering across golden frozen tips of our once green grass.  I had never seen so many together in the whole of my life!

With pudgy fingers our petite 14 month old grand-daughter pointed with excitement to squeal, “Puppies!”  Sitting down in front of the window, her hands flat on cool tile, we felt swooshes of warm furnace air blowing up through a metal grate in the floor.  From her seat, she could see her “puppies” out the clear of window glass.   It was there that we taught her new words.  “Turkey” followed by, “Gobble-Gobble.”  So proud she was, trying to repeat them over and over again in her little baby voice.  “Gogble…gog-gle,” she said, with smiles so pink and wide.

Later, we took our little grand-daughter to The Magic House, a famous St. Louis children’s museum.  Truly, it is a magic house of sorts.  Victorian in design with three stories high plus an attic, the restored and redesigned home allows children to unleash hidden imaginations in never seen spaces of wonder and amazement.

Everything at The Magic House is hands-on with areas designated for age appropriateness.  When the three of us sat on primary colored seats of a bench of iron to take a simple rest, suddenly music sang loud and grande.   “Come, sit on me,” they seemed to say  “Let’s Play!”  As in musical chairs!  The three of us strummed strings of a giant harp shaped round with the head of a long wooden pin and afterwards, made brass bells ring while watching balls trip down the steps of a miniature ladder.  Oh, to see her face light up at the sounds of music she had never heard before!

Wandering towards another area, we followed the flow of a magical river seen clearly below our feet.  Yellow, red and green fish swam by through pebbles of speckled colors. Soon it met a beautiful pond of blue where Grandpa helped tiny hands grip a children’s wooden fishing pole.  Before you could say 1-2-3, a fish of blue rubber, all slippery and wet dangled from the end of a cream-colored string.  Smiles of delight….such a sight!

Next, we pretended to have lunch in a ‘fine’ make-believe restaurant where our own Sweetie Pie baked and served several slices of pepperoni pizza.  Then it was off to the grocery store for a quick shopping trip where our little one had her own basket to check-out all of her purchases.  A carton of chocolate milk or a pound of creamy butter?  A dozen of range-free eggs or yellow petals in a pot of green for Mommy?  Finally, she decided to buy everything, plopping down a wad of weathered bills.

Climbing flights of stairs to the third floor attic, we cuddled in the children’s library before going off to tumble down shiny silver slides or jump feet first into piles of plastic colored balls.  Turn your head, come down fast, take a dip, and jump so quick!  So much to do, so little time.

Long before all was seen and done, eyes of a toddler began to droop.  Lashes lingered while jackets were donned to brave the cold.  Arriving home, I changed my grand-daughter’s diaper before snuggling her in a rocking chair, warm with a fuzzy blanket of red.  Within seconds, she was sound asleep.  A terrific day for everyone with a wonderful opportunity to make an older ‘little’ sister feel extra special.

Still a baby yet herself, she needs that after all.

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