Jenny, isn't it wonderful to pull out things that are 100 years old and find they are sparkling white? With all the handwork realy, I am glad it is those things and not ours that survive so well.
Reasons your own baby's things might not have fared as well really add up to one big reason:
natural is better.
Baby formula stains, but so does Mom's milk if mom eats modern food. We also have all kinds of other pollutants to deal with and all of them have long term affects, the least of which are stained clothes. Sad, but true.
One of the worst things that can stain baby clothes oddly enough, is a natural product - bananas. I found this out too late for my son's clothes. He liked bananas so much his best friend's mom would call and have her dh bring home a bunch so she could give hiim one as a parting gift when he was over. Good thing I have that sweet memory to go with his little things because some have tiny black spots caused by banana seeds.
Milk is a big stainer too, but as Jenny's story shows, it probably isn't the milk itself, but additives that find their way into milk nowadays. Moms who want to avoid these problems, I suggest you wash those clothes the very day they are worn. No letting laundry pile up for as long as a week like I did. Funny thing about that - Monday was traditionally wash day so I know people in 1900 let their laundry sit too. Of course, they boiled things and used blueing which might help.
Osusannah...the picture is a senior picture, and no...I didn't mention my changed Avatar. I guess I just figured everyone is used to me changing it a lot! I am not happy with the way that picture looks in the avatar. It's too distorted. We call that pic her CD cover, by the way! LOL! Thanks for the compliment, too.
Talking about what you would grab first in a fire, I would say my pets and a special box I keep the CD-R/RW discs of my writing, family photos and other important things saved in text or picture files. I think even if we lose all the physical objects we have, God forbid, we still have the most important keepsake inside of us...memories.
And that's about all I have to say...lol
Oh, and Popsie...I can't figure out how to PM! So to ID and get a value on your ponies, go to mylittleponycollector.com [img]smile.gif[/img] And MLP didn't have birds in their line. Hasbro did another line called Fairy Tails that I'm pretty sure you're referring to that are commonly mislabeled as "MLP birds." Also the same with Sweetie Pups, who had their own line versus being "MLP dogs" Drop me a PM if you're interested in selling... [img]wink.gif[/img]
Your daughter is really cute! She does look like a singer on the cover of a country CD.
Cute avatar! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]
<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ April 22, 2005 08:42 PM: Message edited by: dolllover ]</font>
Isn't it funny? We get a kick out of that picture. It's not my favorite. My favorite is the one I had up before with the yellow rose. I have it in poster size in my living room. [img]eek.gif[/img] You should see it..I got this gilded frame....well, you get the idea! [img]eek.gif[/img] I also have another one that is of her in the cowboy hat and jeans, but she's barefoot sitting on the floor, and it's black and white. The photographer is very artistic.
The photography studio is in another city an hour away. People keep telling us that the picture in my avatar is in a restaurant down there, and it's huge. We also keep hearing that the photographer used that picture for his flyer this year. I'm going to have to call and ask for one. She's such a dramatic person that I'm sure it was fun to photograph her. We call her the DQ, short for Drama Queen.
Hey...I think we should have one week where we all use our senior picture as our avatar....
[img]wink.gif[/img] [img]rolleyes.gif[/img]
<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ April 22, 2005 11:01 PM: Message edited by: Ponydreamer ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">How funny, that's exactly what I was thinking, that it is the cover of her debut album, appropriately entitled "American Girl." [img]wink.gif[/img]Originally posted by Ponydreamer:
We call that pic her CD cover, by the way!
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">[img]eek.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/gulp.gif[/img] [img]redface.gif[/img] (looking for big-haired graemlin) I graduated in the '80s, remember?Originally posted by Ponydreamer:
Hey...I think we should have one week where we all use our senior picture as our avatar....
I understand your view of photos, Jenny - I always think of it as "what would you grab in a fire?" It used to be photos and letters first for me, but I've come to realise other things evoke family better, at least for me. My father and I shared an interst in antiqueing and primitive art and some of those items would rival photos, simply because they evoke more memories of our relationship. There are certain things of my children's too, that rank over photos - a favorite garment or a worn out shoe of my son's, that I could hold and feel a part of him still there, and a few of his favovorite things. My dd's Muffy and some ag things, like Addy's abacus she learned to count and add on. Things we've shared. For my dh it would definately be a shirt or sweater - not a photo.
I do think that toys passed along can be the best way of connecting children to their ancestors. We actually put this to the test. My mil realised she was getting Alzheimers and would never get to know her only grandaughter. She knew she could not change that, but thought she might at least be able to change the fact that her grandaughter would never know her. Even if she lived a long time with the disease, she knew she would become a different person, and wanted my dd to know the real her.
She was an early childhood education specialist and understood developement and what my dd would respond to at her age ( then 6). She decided she most wanted to introduce her to the child she herself had been, more than the adults she became. I think this was a wise decision - we who knew her as an adult can take care of that part, and do.
This is how we got into AG. My mil was also 9 in 1934, and so gave her Kit and later her bedroom set, and other relatives contributed other accessories. Each item has inspired conversation "You know, Granna sold eggs too, and butter as well, Her least favorite chore was cleaning the butter churn. She preferred to be outside, like you". I suspect my MIL saw a lot of herself in my daughter, and did not want her to feel alone, because no other relatives are much like the two of them. She wanted her to know it was alright.
In truth, it is the stories that link them best, especially now, but playiing with Kit made others tell the stories, and brought them to life. My dd spent time thinking, and wondering and then she began asking questions, which is so much better than being talked at. It increased her interest in reading and made her gravitate to books about this time period. The doll turned out to be a great medium for facilitating the connection. Photos and stories have continued it.
Pleasant Rowland did what museums started doing at the same time. In museum lingo, the term for things like photos and papers is 'stagnant' and for things you touch 'interactive'. They've learned that children especially are reached better throught interactives.
We take information in with all our senses, and some evoke the past better than others. Scent does the most. I really wish AG scented their products - in fact I was excited to find lavender soap in Josefina's box of momentos. Photographs are great, but if you put a loaf of banana bread in the oven, turned on music from the 1940's and maybe set out a vase with a gardenia or roses, don't you think the experience of going through the family album would be enhanced that much more?
I think this is a lot of the appeal of AG products for me. I get a little nostalgic buzz from opening Kit's camera - the rustle and the sensation in my hands brings back fond memories.
Having said all that, I am saving all my children's stories for their children and grandchildren to read - fictional stories they';ve written and nonfictional stories I write about them. . At a certain age, I think nothing brings a person back so much as their stories told in their own voice. I think it is odd that this is not a long established tradition in our culture. I think Laura Ingalls Wilder was who taught me about it.
I changed my avatar to my senior pic. The 90's weren't so bad style-wise. [img]smile.gif[/img]
This thread sure has meandered! There are probably a dozen topics in it and they've all been fun to read. =) AND, we actually got over 100 replies to the original post! That's a record I believe.
Julia
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