Sort of a Funny Day with Darrin

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Of course I had Darrin and Brandon yesterday while Connor had his surgery. I watch the boys full time while easy child works, I see them on my days off as we shop together. I see them a LOT, in other words. But they don't come over here much anymore except holidays.

Now I've commented on how both Kayla and Aubrey will talk a mile a minute to the point where it both amazes you and can start driving you crazy.........

After yesterday, it's obvious Darrin inherited the same gene. :rofl: I don't think the boy shut up for 5 mins.

I watched Darrin from birth to age 3 for easy child. It's a given that we're pretty darn close. For years he's wanted to "collect" things because Nana does. (all I collect are old tins from the turn of last century) It used to be the boxes from my cigarettes but that just drove easy child nuts. He thought the way they were made was cool. So recently I switched him to cigar boxes, the pretty wooden ones, because I found them fairly cheap at a local antique store. He's always been my yard sale buddy. And when I talk yard sales, I talk "treasures", in other words, you don't just pick up anything that strikes your fancy because it's cheap......you literally hunt for the treasures to be found big or small. I do this with Aubrey too. And Brandon is just beginning to learn.

Think of the show American Pickers......except I don't go that extreme, nor do I know anyone that would allow me to go picking in their barns ect lol But Darrin is totally hooked on this show. And shocker..........sister in law is too! We got sister in law hooked on yard sales not long after he entered the family. Unfortunately this means easy child and I can't shake him when we'd rather go alone. lmao He "shops" too fast and it drives us nuts.

So Darrin comes in, eats a quick 2nd breakfast (I know easy child fed him), and starts chattering. First about my tins which are displayed along the tops of my kitchen cabinets. He has always like them, but this time he had to know about each and every single one. He had to know about the tin itself, how old was it, how much did it cost, how did I find it, how much is it worth?? It was the "how I found it" part that seemed to fascinate him. And I do tend to find them in unusual places. Then he wanted to know about the other "old" things I have.......which is a ton of things from furniture down to really small stuff. Same questions applied. He thought it amazing that many items came from his great grandparents......and their great grandparents, you know, down through the generations. I thought he was going to faint with excitement over my new treadle sewing machine which came directly from an estate sale and looks as if the lady it belonged to just stopped using it as it has everything she accumulated through the years in the drawers (sewing notions a century old).

Then when we started cleaning........... Darrin is a cleanaholic, he LOVES to clean........he wants to empty my coin drawer in my desk and put it into my money jar. The money drawer holds other things but it's where I toss spare change until I switch it over to the jar that is put up. (the jar is actually an old coffee can) Then the discussion changed a bit on how to be careful with your money.....how to save without it hurting (money jar method) yadda yadda.........

I started him on the living room after that hoping to speed things along. Well there are two antique end tables in there full of "stuff" both very old and new. He asked it he could look......and once again I'm explaining the items. Then on to the bookshelf........where the really old books are.......and yeah. lol

I finally had to take them outside just to calm down his chatter some. But then it was.........what bug is this? what does it eat? what work does it do? (cuz to get him to stop randomly stomping bugs I explained they all have a job that is important) what kind of plant is this? why do I have to put it out by the roots? Can we save this worm? and this one? and this one?

OMG! :faint:

I swear he does NOT talk like this at ALL in his own home. His eyes are glued to the tv for cartoons or video games until Nana is mean and makes them shut it off and go play.

Brandon was just adorable. He loves outside. He loves Nana's house because of the toys (many which are now vintage themselves) And he loved that he was big enough to help in the garden and that Nana had tools his size. He was so cute giving the flowers a drink, even if I had to fill his tiny watering can at least a dozen times.

But I was rather pleased (other than my ears ached) that Darrin has the appreciation for "old" things the way I do. It's not just that they're old or even that they're worth money. It's the quality and the beauty that moves him. I told easy child about our day and she said it's weird for an 8 yr old boy to feel like that..........I told her no, I felt the same way from as far back as I can remember. easy child just said I was weird too. lol

So.........Darrin went home with some treasures of his own. I had two tin bandaid containers. I gave him one. He got some loose change he found while cleaning. He got the US Army patches that husband had put aside for him so easy child could sew them onto his fatigue play outfit so it would look more real. And the one that excited him the most was a 14 kt gold tie clip husband got from the last company he worked at. Not much sentimental value for me, but it made him super excited. easy child was not thrilled.......cuz she said great, now she'll have to buy him a tie so he can wear it. lmao

Brandon got one of those rubbery change "purses" that you squeeze to get the coins in and out that were popular in the 70's, some loose change, and a teeny deck of childrens cards. lol

I think I'll request Darrin to come over and help me more often. Maybe if it's more frequent he won't talk my ears off so much. :rofl: It was fun though with both boys.
 

Tiapet

Old Hand
Hound, I am (hopefully) a long way off from being a grandma but, this was spoken like a true proud grandma. You sound just like my grandma if she were speaking about me when I was little. I really enjoyed reading this thread. Thank you for sharing with me and reminding me of my wonderful grandma who I miss dearly. ;)
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
OMG! Lisa! I think it's WONDERFUL that a child his age is developing a love and respect for old things! Unusual but wonderful! I was surrounded by things like that growing up and didn't appreciate them one tiny little bit! But then my mother didn't either and a lot of old treasures that I would love to have now are gone. We moved to Florida when I was 11 and she either gave away or left so many beautiful things, including the antique dining room set and the pony-size carved wood rocking horse that was already old when my grandfather played with it in the 1890's! It had a real horse hair mane and tail and a real leather saddle and bridle attached. Gone now! And the cigar boxes were a big part of our childhood! Both grandfathers smoked cigars and we got the boxes to keep our favorite things in. Every kid had a cigar box full of their "treasures" and some of them were real works of art. One thing I do still have is a fancy engraved brushed aluminum cigar box that was a souvenir of the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair. It probably belonged to my great-grandfather because my grandfather was only 14 in 1904. I think they would put the cardboard cigar box inside the aluminum box. We kept our crayons in it as kids so it definitely shows some wear but I love it. Another neat thing I found on eBay, also a souvenir of the Worlds Fair, is a little pocket-sized cigar case made of the same engraved aluminum. It opens like a glasses case but has indents in it to hold three cigars. A gentleman could put three cigars in it when he was going out and slip it into his coat pocket to protect the cigars. Not much call for those today! Darrin is a very perceptive little boy for one so young and it's wonderful that his curiosity has been awakened.

Your post reminded me so much of my grandma too! They lived in a very old house, the house my dad and his siblings grew up in, and it was filled to the brim with all their old treasures because of my grandma, the packrat! It's funny the things you remember. My grandfather also smoked a pipe and there was always a big can of "Half and Half" pipe tobacco on the table right next to the chair he always sat in. Believe it or not, I found one of those old tobacco cans in an antique store, brought it home, and put it on my shelf that goes all the way across my kitchen, the one full of old kitchen things and household items. My brother spotted it up there on the shelf and almost cried! He just looked at it and was instantly transported back to our grandparents house in his mind. You just can't see that tobacco can without picturing my grandfather sitting right next to it, listening to the ballgames on his old console radio and smoking his pipe!
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
I love threads like this!

We need to get Darrin & Jett together... They can talk each other's ears off.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Yes, step, we certainly need to schedule a get together soon! Those two boys hit it off from the second they laid eyes on each other. lol Which will keep them occupied while we talk. :)
 
Top