Upon the Land of Counterpane

What a sweet afternoon it was when, with all the elements of spontaneity, we read The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson. With the beauty of the verses fresh within our minds, our little girls and I crawled into bed, ruffled the covers so as to make pillow-hills, and began to make our own Land of Counterpane. The moment was so special with our two little girls sitting opposite each other pretending to be in the Land of Counterpane, that even searching for a camera seemed ill-fitting. It is moments such as these that only a mother can understand, the moments that sweetly rest upon the heart.

The Land of Counterpane

by Robert Louis Stevenson

When I was sick and lay a-bed,

I had two pillows at my head,

And all my toys beside me lay,

To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so

I watched my leaden soldiers go,

With different uniforms and drills,

Among the bed-clothes, through the hills.

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets

All up and down among the sheets;

Or brought my trees and houses out,

And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still

That sits upon the pillow-hill,

And sees before him, dale and plain,

The pleasant land of counterpane.

This post is part of Make Believe Mondays at My Three Rivers Home

Bonny and Owl

Bobby Shafto's gone to sea,

Silver buckles at his knee;

He'll come back and marry me,

Bonny Bobby Shafto!

Our little one loves this traditional English nursery rhyme! She delights in playing the part of Bonny Shafto, so we couldn't pass up on these matching sailor outfits! She regularly pretends to be Bonny, and she happily carries "Owl Shafto" along with her at times. She has such a fondness for this nursery rhyme that Mommy couldn't help but provide her with a homemade wedding veil to complete her dream!

What a joy it is to share in the delights of our little ones!

This post is a part of Make-Believe Mondays at My Three Rivers Home

Imagination

There are those special moments during the course of motherhood that cause you to pause for an instant and, with thankfulness in your heart, delight in the joys that are beheld. The warmth that ensues upon being allowed to enter into the imaginary realm of bumblebees and ladybugs, princesses and horseback riders can hardly be explained, but what a joy it is to catch a glimpse of the thoughts that travel through the mind of a little one...

Perhaps to the passerby the sight of a bubblegum pink stethoscope draped over a doorknob may simply indicate a landing place, a place where a child's toy was left as its owner scurried to the next activity.

But as I look upon the memory of this stethoscope draped casually over a doorknob, I consider that this was completed with the fullest of intentions. Perhaps our little girl who delights in playing with her medical kit, who becomes giddy at the first sight of an "injury," who places countless Band-Aids upon her imaginary scrapes and bruises, hung this stethoscope carefully in her medical office for use later, when an emergency required its services. Perhaps it is just one of the greatest joys of motherhood, to enter into this realm of whimsy and sweetness, of imagination and delight...

This is part of Make Believe Monday Link Up at My Three Rivers Home.

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