The tiny chair
Being here in Fremont has brought on some memories. One came up when Charlie was trying to persuade Julian to sit in the family's tiny little chair that many Moon children have sat in for a photograph. Julian would not cooperate, but I told the story to Becca and Mike.
It happened when Marj and Nate still lived in the "gray house" near town. We were visiting in the kitchen with Pati and Marj (can't remember if Nate and Charlie were there as well). Cori and Sarah were around 4 or 5, playing in Marj's bedroom. We heard a big crash, glass breaking. Immediately, Sarah called out, "Cori and I don't know what happened! Joshie did it." That was "Jo-o-o-o-shie" with the tonal Michigan "o" sound. And there sat Joshie, on the floor outside the bedroom, with his round, Charlie Brown head, just clueless. I don't think he could even walk then.
The chair is a little upholstered chair that one of Grandma Dobben's relatives (an uncle, I think, built for her when she was a little girl. It was for her dolls. It is a tradition to take a picture of the Moon children sitting in it when they are 1 year old.
The tiny chair, on the right, with some other pieces of Grandma Dobben's doll furniture.
Some other stories.
When Sarah was around 2 or 3, she was in the kitchen with me and Randy and decided to play hide-and-seek. She would hide by standing behind the curtains on the kitchen window. We would, as you do, start "looking" for her by saying, "Where is Sarah?!" She would promptly answer in a sing-song rhythmic way, distinctly pronouncing each syllable, "I am right here be-hind the cur-tains." The game didn't end there, though. We would say, "Is she under the table?" and she would answer, "No, I am right here be-hind the cur-tains." "Is she in the cupboard?" "No, I am right here be-hind the cur-tains." Too cute.
I think Becca was around 4 or 5 when she was alone in the room at her home where the telephone was. Randy called, Becca picked it up, Randy asked for her mom or dad, and somehow Becca didn't quite get it. She told her mom, "The officer called." What?
When the kids were all much older, they decided to do some target shooting. Josh or one of the other boys would launch a clay pigeon and the kids took turns trying to hit them. Little Nate was a crack shot! He surprised us all. I was appalled at the loudness of the guns. I walked around with my hands over my ears and if I caught any of my kids' eyes, I would say, "My cilia!" They were probably the only ones who had a clue what I was talking about. (I had explained to them how loud sounds bend the cilia in your ears, like a big wind bends trees, and if you listen to too much loud sound, your cilia stay bent, resulting in hearing loss.)