As I write this, my 3-year-old and 1-year-old are in the front hallway, sitting on the floor and playing with my mom’s old orange Tupperware measuring cups and spoons. Lucy says that she and Isaac are cooking together, making soup, which is cute, but whatever the game is or evolves into, it’s music to my ears for as long as it lasts. The only thing wrong with the picture is that it’s super early on a Sunday morning when part of me is thinking wistfully of the days when I could sleep in on the weekend.
I’ll try to get to my point quickly so I can finish my thought before someone inevitably cries and I have to intervene, but for now I’m free to type: It’s great that the baby is now old enough to play happily with his sister, and it makes me even happier that they are amused by something as mundane as durable orange plastic. We have a house full of 21st century plastic toys from the likes of Fisher Price and Little Einstein and Playskool, but both the girl and the boy only have eyes for some circa 1970s bakeware. It’s one of the go-to tools in a parent’s arsenal. Just toss some non-toys on the floor when the kids are bored and they’ll usually go to town and give you some peace and quiet for about 15 minutes or more if you are lucky.
It’s also fun to think about how my mom and I cooked so many things together using those old measuring cups and spoons. Of course, I’ve gotten snobby in my old age and now when I cook I’m using a set of measuring cups from Williams-Sonoma I got at my wedding shower. But I’m sure my mom, if she were here, would approve of her grandkids messing around with her Tupperware.
Find out what's happening in Hunt Valley-Cockeysvillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Alas, as I predicted, the spell has been broken and I need to go break up a minor scuffle over who gets to play with the Leap Frog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart – the game has evolved into a grocery shopping thing and Isaac wants the cart that Lucy as brought onto the scene. Lucy says Ike is a “mischief man” to which he emphatically disagrees “NoNoNoNoNOOOOOO!” So the retro cooking tools have been cast aside for now. I’m hoping they’ll work their magic again another day.
