Saturday, December 14, 2013

Childhood Secret Spaces

Was there a special spot you liked to play in when you were a child that was just yours?  I had forgotten about two places that were lots of fun to have secret meetings, special sessions and child-only events in until I spoke with my cousin the other day.

We were talking about how children can cram into the smallest spaces, specifically my two hiding under the clothes in our master closet, when she reminded me of a place we used to play when we were much smaller.

I had a trundle bed when I was young, which is bunk beds, only they're collapsed on top of one another.  The main bed is mostly normal in height but underneath it is a second bed that rolls out.  My cousin said she remembered coming to visit and wanting to sleep on the trundle part of the bed but when she mentioned it, of course I claimed that I would be the one sleeping there.  A little reverse psychology later and my cousin had a guaranteed spot on that lower bed because I was in no way giving up my bed just because she said it looked more comfortable with softer sheets.  It's a good thing I won that argument.

There was a secret place with that bed though and that was the space under the bed when the trundle part was all the way out.  It was vertically-challenged space, but it was a hideout and we had lots of fun doing things I can't even remember anymore.

The other space I played in that I had no competition for, was the top shelf of my closet.  I don't know how old I was, but I was old enough to pull a chair over, move the clothes out of the way, somehow hold on to the clothes rod and brace myself against the wall so that I could get onto the shelf above the full-length clothes. 

I don't know how I did it and I don't know what I did up there (it was rather dark).   What I can tell you is that my parents still live in that house and I have looked up into that closet at that same shelf as an adult.  It's a narrow shelf.  It's almost at the top of the closet.  I have no idea why it was "fun" to be up there as a child, but I remember that it was to me at the time.

The Big Boy Update:  Third birthday party.  Today was his birthday party.  The theme was "Cars" (the movie) and we had our friends from our street come to share in his birthday fun.  We all had a good time but the thing that made me laugh was when he left in the middle of unwrapping a present to disappear into the closet.  Was he suddenly shy?  My husband speculates that he was going to look for a tool to help open this particularly difficult present.  His departure didn't bother his sister one bit who stepped in and finished unwrapping it for him.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "I don't know."  The other day I was asking her to identify things in a book with me.  She wasn't sure on one of them and clearly said, "I don't know." I showed her which animal was the sea lion and then asked her the next question (something she clearly knew the answer to) to which she also replied, "I don't know" in this very high-pitched sing-song little girl voice.  She "didn't know" the answers to any other questions after that.  Was she enjoying someone else showing her the answers or had she just gotten too tired to finish the book?

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