treehouse

With all the excitement of the arrival of the New Baby, I'm always trying to make sure that the Little Dude does not get lost in the shuffle. Its a huge adjustment, (going from one to two) for the whole family, and it must feel very different indeed for the older child. He goes from having all of his parents attention to suddenly having less than half (new babies are a lot of work, and rather time intensive). We've been trying our best to make sure that he feels included and attended too, but it is inevitable that there will just be less time for him. He's been doing pretty well about it, no major tantrums, no potty backsliding, but there have been subtle things. Like his tendency to make off with an item the baby needs, just as I reach for it, whether it be a breast feeding pillow, or the baby wipes or even just the blanket I was about to wrap around the New Baby. He's not mean about it, but will just stand out of reach and calmly declare that 'the baby not need dat blanket.' as I hold out my hand and calmly entreat that the baby does indeed need that blanket. So long as I don't make too big of a deal out of it, he usually will bring back the item, (but not very promptly). The funniest one to date was when I was getting ready to feed the new baby, and just as I was about to unsnap my nursing bra, he came over to the couch and firmly placed his hand over the snap, and said "mama no unsnap dat breastfeeding". He was so earnest, it was hard not to laugh. I just took a minute and smiled at him and said "I have to feed the baby." He held his ground for another minute, but when I just kept smiling at him, and gave him a little hug and told him I loved him, he relented and returned to the much more interesting world of little cars and tractors, and left the New Baby and I to our feeding.

My point with all this, is that Hubs has really stepped up to try and give the Little Dude some good one-on-one time. The other morning, while the New Baby and I slept, he sat upstairs with L.D. and read a whole 60 page chapter book together. In one sitting! It was The Very Private Treehouse, by Harvey Weiss. Another book left over from my childhood. It has 7 chapters, and is written at about, oh, I dunno, a grade 2 comprehension level? Its got a picture on every two-page spread, like this:

But there are still a heck of a lot of words, and the Little Dude listened to all of it. Hubs said he didn't sit still for all of it, as some of it was listened to from his perch on the side arms of the couch, and some from a vantage point of hanging around Hubs neck, and some from lying down on the floor, but he did seem to hear all of it, and didn't want Hubs to stop reading. Part of the reason was that they had started by looking at the map/illustration in the front cover of the book, which includes a tractor that the Little Dude was very keen on hearing about. However, Old Henry's Tractor never actually made an appearance in the story, neither in pictures or words, which is rather cruel if you ask me. So Hubs had to make up an addendum/afterwards to the story in order to include said tractor. They both had a lovely time, reading and being read to, and the crux of the story (the Treehouse) seemed to loom large in both of their minds. The Little Dude had a few questions for me about treehouses, and Hubs, in his usual fashion, started sketching. It was only a matter of time...

...until they started scouting out a possible location for their own treehouse.

Tools were assembled, scrap lumber was scrounged up, and they were off. You'll note the Little Dude is wearing a full snow suit. Despite the recent thaws, it was still just a little under freezing today, so I thought the snowpants would be prudent. And they were quite necessary. But these boys of mine are never deterred by a little cold when they have a plan in mind.

Hammering is the best part.

Note as well that the Little Dude has his own hammer. Just a little dollar-store cheapie that Hubs picked up with him in mind, but a real hammer nonetheless, with which he was thrilled.

Apparently though, it was a bit too cheap, and could not stand up to the constant use of a toddler. By the end of the morning its handle was quite bent, and when Hubs tried to straighten it, it just snapped. Cheap + metal fatigue = waste of money.

The second most fun thing (after hammering) was dumping out nails and transferring them from one container to another.

Look! Nails! Only slightly dangerous, mum!

After nearly two hours it was time to drag them back inside. Hubs assures me that this is only a start. There will be steps and a little room and a railing and maybe even a roof! They have big plans.

As you can see they are very happy with their result. It fills my heart to see them having so much fun together. I remember well the first treehouse I ever built with my dad. It was in the Hemlock tree at the side of our house (long since cut down) and I remember working on it while my mom was napping too. I was older than the Little Dude is now, but I hope he'll remember this too. Hubs recalls building a treehouse with his dad as well. Does anyone else remember building treehouses with a parent? Mom or Dad? Or on your own? Leave your story in the comments, I'd love to hear it.

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We totally had a treehouse, at the back of the property, in a huge willow (not weeping willow, but willow) tree. Loved it. We long to build one for our own girls (esp. my hubs does) but are constrained by time, a suitable tree (we'd have to use the neighbor's that hangs over our property) and ... the thought that we might move this year.

Posted by: Marcia Van Drunen | 03/29/2011 at 05:40 AM

I love it, he learned the craft well when he was young. First of all scrap lumber scrounged from building sites, mainly houses. Great for bonding too! And I love the comments he, the little dude, made about you tending to the babe. HIs cousin is the same way about her baby sister, but does not come up with such clever sayings, she is more blunt about it.

Posted by: ineke | 03/29/2011 at 11:18 PM