Ava's Transformation--Imaginative Play

Several people have asked "Where is all of your stuff?" To that I reply, "We have a REALLY big storage garage. We had a LOT of stuff." My last several post have been about events I found rather humorous. But I would like to start addressing the transformation we've had to make.

Ava never had a lot of toys...somewhere in the realm of the volume of two storage ottomans, plus a big wheels, a scooter, a grocery cart full of fruits and vegetables, a bicycle, a drawing table and a shelf of books.   With living quarters being so limited in our camper, real estate is priceless and modern toddler toys are fairly non-existent.  Ava is limited to one backpack of toys and a bicycle.  It’s really made Ben and I think about how families with children live.   

I  know I’ve walked into houses where narrow walking paths are made through drifts of toys. Some families dedicate entire basements to playrooms. Some children have enough toys on their bedroom floor to cover every surface of our camper...multiple layers deep! According to a book by Adproofing Your Kids “The average number of new toys a child in the USA receives in a year is 70.”  In a U.K. News article, the average 10-year-old has 238 toys worth £7,000 ($11,000 USD)!

Today, Ava spent nearly an hour alone filling her shoes with rocks from our camper spot, moving buckets of leaves from one area to another and climbing in and out of the back of our pickup like it was the best jungle gym ever!  She’s toted around 4 sticks for the last 3 days everywhere we went.  I’ll give you that they’re not the most sanitary, but I don’t have to worry about it having lead paint (if you remember the 2007 China toy recall).  Nor do I have to worry about its cost to replace if its forgotten, lost, broken or taken by some other kid at the playground.  

I've research the importance of imaginative play. However, several examples I found were not what I call "imaginative".  Here are some of the examples I found:

1. Get your child a kitchen set and have them pretend to cook.2. Find clothing kits and accessories for dress up play.3. Children can play with toy cash registers or pretend ATMs to learn and understanding of how to use money.

These options do not sound very imaginative or cheap. Ava is 3 and today she arranged coins to make a flower (complete with pistil, petals, stems and leaves), used shape and color flashcards as a memory game, and played the part of a dancing princess with a bath towel.  Piles of rocks become snow piles. Big rocks are bunny eggs. Leaves are money. Depending on the game, sticks are magic wands or guns or fishing poles. Part of me worried about Ava getting bored without many toys, but without branded toys we’ve seen her imagination take off.

"Diamond Earrings" or "Dime and Earrings" ?

This afternoon while Ben was attending a scuba training session Ava proudly announced she went potty.  As I walked into the bathroom, Ava was peering into the toilet.  Then, the following conversation took place:

Ava:  "Did the dime come out of my tummy?" Me:  "I don't know.  Let's find out." (after a minute)Me:  "Here.  I think we found it."Ava:  "Let's keep it and show it to Daddy!  Let me grab a Ziplock baggie!"

When Ben returned and found the "present" he thought he should make it into a necklace for me...or try to get Ava to eat another one so I could have a set of earrings.

When You Have No Pockets

The great thing about Texas is that southern hospitality.  My mother’s side of the family all live about an hour from Austin.  When we went up to visit them this last weekend, 4 out of 4 families we visited offered up their homes to us or hook ups on their property for our camper.  

Tonight, Ava and I went to visit my cousin.  We had a good laugh about the dime incident from the other day.  Before leaving around 10:00pm my cousin provided Ava with a pull-up and pajamas for the ride home.  

As we were preparing to leave my cousin’s house, my cousin picked Ava up to give her a hug good-bye, and lightly patted her bottom.   My cousin then got a strange expression on her face and asked Ava, “Do you need to go potty?”  Ava said, “No.”  My cousin then opted to check Ava’s pull up while I observed from the doorway.  

As my cousin pulled Ava’s pull-up down we discover Ava’s play cell-phone.  I said, “I didn’t realize Ava ate a cell phone.  If only the dime was as easy to pass.”  My cousin said, “Ava’s only been in Texas a week but she sure must be missing her Grandma Rita.  We need to get this girl a training bra!”  (This may only be funny if you know Grandma Rita.)

Hoping for Diarrhea

Today, while eating lunch our neighbor next door came over and.said, “Ya’ll are connected to the wrong well.”  Ben went outside with our neighbor.  Apparently there are two water hook-ups.  As one well periodically gets contaminated, we’re supposed to switch to the other.  Fine time to finally find out about this.  My only hope is we all get diarrhea (yes, I just said that) so hopefully it will speed up this “dime passing” process.

The Benefits of Eating Together

It’s day 7 of RV living.  We’ve settled into a bit of a routine where Ben gets up early to work while Ava and I sleep in.  We get up, shower, get dressed, make breakfast and all sit around the table together for the first meal of the day.  Ava and I will usually make an outdoor play run while Ben works, return to our camper for lunch together with Ben.  While Ben works in the afternoon, Ava and I will play around the camper, run errands, then return to eat dinner with Ben.  Then, the three of us will spend the evening doing whatever together.  Yes, we spend a lot of time together.  We also gather together around a meal table 3 times per day.


There are all sorts of studies out there about the benefits of eating together:  time for bonding, decreased rates of smoking, drinking, or illegal drug use, better grades, etc.  Some of you may say those studies are biased in some way, but if you can’t believe a study at Columbia University by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), you have to believe Chuck Norris.  That’s right, Chuck Norris’s C-Force Rule #3) 

“Slow down and eat with your loved ones. The art of cooking needs to return to American homes, and so does eating together. Sitting down for meals with your family not only improves eating habits and ensures proper nutrition but also reduces obesity patterns in children and provides for daily times of interaction and relational building”

However, to reap the benefits, the family sitting around the table must not be dysfunctional.  Humm...

A Baby and Change

A few months ago we went to visit a good friend of mine who was pregnant at the time.  Ben and I informed Ava that our friend had a baby in her tummy.  Ava asked other questions and we told Ava the baby would come out soon just like how Ava used to be in mommy’s tummy but is now growing up to be a big girl.  

This concept has really stuck with Ava where she thinks all girls have a baby in their tummy.  The only trouble with this is Ava thinks all girls have a baby in their tummy and has caught Grandma Rita off guard when she told Grandma Rita “Aunt Jenny has a baby in her tummy.”   Quickly, I let Grandma Rita know Ava thinks all girls have a baby in their tummy including Ava, myself as-well-as Grandma Rita.  

I see this could get us in trouble because we’ve told Ava “Daddy put a baby in mommy’s tummy.”  Now, Ava sometimes says, “I have a baby in my tummy.  It’s daddy’s.”  

This morning while sitting around the table Ava reminded me of an incident yesterday when she said, “Mommy, I have a baby in my tummy....AND a dime!”  Yes, Ava swallowed a dime yesterday (from which she had arranged to make a flower), which further reminds me that Ben and I get the *ahum* pleasure of “digging for gold” for the next few days.

How Big is Your House?

After only a few days in the travel trailer, I realize just how close we’re going to be in this 24’x8’ RV.  That’s 192 square feet for a kitchen, dining room, living room, bed room and bathroom for 2 adults, 1 toddler and 2 large dogs.  Walking room is probably only 40 square feet.  

How did we go from a house with an area over 4,000 feet to a 1,900 square foot house to a 1,700 square foot townhouse to a 192 square foot camper? One really has to love their family or just have a STRONG sense of adventure to make this sort of commitment.  

Oh yeah, did I mention we’re already looking for a larger camper?

Our Arrival in Austin

As my last day of work approached, we became more and more excited and full of anticipation.  Even Ava, our 3 year old daughter, was counting down the events until we were on our adventure.  Ben would drive to Austin, Ava would stay at my parent's house, I would pick her up and we would visit the Ben's parents in the Ozarks, visit my sister in Kansas City, visit our friends/ Ava's godparents in Lawrence, KS, then meet Ben in Austin.  

Ben and a friend drove a 26’ moving truck and camper towards Austin.  However, mother nature showed herself in full winter furry and covered 38 states with snow, ice and blizzard conditions.  The storm started in southwestern US covering Oklahoma City in ice and snow.  This is the same storm that covered Chicago in 20” of snow and left people to abandon their vehicles on the Magnificent Mile of Lakeshore Drive.  Ben and his friend made it to Lawrence, KS to stay with Ben’s best friend from childhood, a.k.a. Ava’s godparents.  They had to stay and extra night to wait out the storm.  

Ben, alas, arrived safely in Austin a couple of days later than planned.  After my last day of work as I drove with Des Moines in my rear view mirror, I looked forward and saw a bald eagle fly about 20’ above my car.  Yes, I took it as a sign as the freedom ahead.  After I picked up Ava from my parents we drove south to the Ozarks.  On an already narrow highway, we passed through walls of snow, as tall as my car, formed by snow plows cutting through 7’ drifts.  I saw a horse barely making his way through snow up to his chest. Ava fell asleep in the car telling me tales of watching monster movies and eating ice cream with my parents.  From what I understood, she had ice cream every day.  Thank you, Grandma Rita.

Ava and I snaked our way from Iowa--with pit stops at my in-laws in the Ozarks, my sister's in Kansas City, and Ben & my friends in Lawrence, KS--at last arriving in Georgetown, TX (a northern suburb of Austin).

Speed Bumps

As more thought is put into this expedition, I realize we’re going to face a few speed bumps:
1.     What we don’t spend in a mortgage/rent, we’re going to spend in gas.
2.     Where will we have mail sent?  Sure, we won’t have water, electrical, mortgage bills.  And most of our expenses are already on auto-pay.  However, any fan mail will have to be e-mail.  Any holiday cards will have to be e-cards.  Maybe I’m sharing hints.  :)
3.     Where will we do laundry?  I guess we’ve been privileged enough to have laundry facilities on site for so many years that I’m a bit spoiled.  Plenty of people utilize laundromats.  However, I do know enough of Laundromats to know they come in a WIDE spectrum of quality.

Carnies...Without the Carnival

As our future unfolded before us, we opted to leap even further.  Without a place to live in Austin, a job for me, a job where Ben wasn’t confined to brick and mortar and Ava (our 3 year old daughter) not yet in school we felt the stars were aligned to do what some people only dream of while sitting at their desks on Wednesday afternoons…live in our camper and go wherever we feel like at that time.

What do I mean?  I mean:  We like to ski-maybe we’ll spend a month in Colorado; we have family and friends near Kansas City-maybe we’ll visit them; I’ve heard wonderful things about upstate New York; or visit the Lake of the Ozarks in the fun summer months.  Ben equates our adventure to being carnies…without the carnival.  Ben and I should make a list of places to visit.  Do you know of a festival to attend?  Or maybe you know of the best place to see spring in its youth?  We’re open to any recommendations you may have.