The Holiday Reports: The Dollhouse Take Two

Remember that fantastically wonderful dollhouse that Saint Nicholas delivered to our darling Princess for Christmas this year?  She loves it!  Unfortunately for those of our readers who were interested in catching a glimpse of the action, I was way too exhausted at 7:00am Christmas morning to get a photo of her tearing away at the paper.  We did not, however, miss the moment. It has been recorded in our hearts and minds where we will revel in it forever.

Princess was so pleased with her gift that she sat there for a few minutes stunned, examining it with the most gentle and careful attention. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.  It was almost as if she couldn’t believe that the dollhouse was actually there smack dab in the middle of our living room, just screaming out to be played with!  She smiled and giggled a bit as she scoped out the place and straight out laughed with proverbial glee once or twice as she began to play.  The whole scene was absolutely precious.  She just kept repeating:  “I got a dollhouse! I got a dollhouse!” Watching her enjoy her gift made this year’s Christmas magical for me and quickly transported me back to the Christmases of my own childhood.

It took, however, only a mere fifteen minutes of Christmas Day play to shock me back into reality.  It wasn’t long before Princess and Drama Queen were already fussing over the dollhouse. “Oh, joy to the world!” I thought out loud “I’ve just blessed myself with yet another object of contention.” Twenty more minutes into the playtime and the Frump Family’s furniture was everywhere.  Their contemporary bed was under our contemporary espresso leather sofa, their kitchen was under my coffee table, and I was already tripping over pieces of the bathroom on my way through the kitchen to my coffee! Ah!  I had once again managed to sabotage my sanity with a toy!  I sat back with Hubby, mug in hand, and watched the girls play as my mind drifted. 

Throughout the rest of the day, as we hosted family and friends, my eyes and my mind’s eye kept wandering back to the dollhouse.  “How the hell am I going to convince them to keep all those tastefully appointed rooms of furniture furnished AND keep the furnishings in the house – or at least in one place?! What’s more, how am I going to avert the pending disaster of having to chase around the house in search of this piece or that which Drama Queen managed to make disappear to Princess’ whiny dismay?”  I suppose I damn near wore a hole in my lip biting it as I wondered. OK. Not really, but I was just a tad concerned over how to keep it together and not let this dollhouse run out of control all over mine.

As our last guest departed Christmas Day evening and I tidied the house it finally occurred to me like a bolt of lightning! Anxious to implement my plan, I rushed to get the kiddies ready for bed and down… 1,2,3…  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.  There remained only one task more  to be completed: mission de-mess the dollhouse. Here’s how…

Yes, folks, I resorted to the low temp glue gun! The glue does not have enough power to bond the appointments permanently (or even temporarily, I guess. Princess just walked into the kitchen, commode in hand) but it’s just strong enough to keep them in place for awhile, long enough for the girls to understand that the furniture belongs in Princess’ dollhouse and NOT ALL OVER the mommykelly’s house!

Somewhere out there I imagine a psychologist or pseudo-psychologist reading this and as we speak, tearing hair out from the roots at the thought of me gluing my kid’s dollhouse furniture down, and arguing all the way: ”They need to move it around! That’s the whole point! Etc., etc., etc.”  I’m pretty sure that it’s not the whole point. In fact, the Frump Family’s functionality has much improved with the glued down furniture. They can stand upright in the shower without it falling or getting knocked over.  They can rest in bed without the mattress shooting out from under them. They can get comfortable on the sofa cushions actually  with still on the sofa. They can even sit at the dining room table without one of the family members ending up on the floor during in the middle of the meal or being crushed by the tumbling hutch.  So in my mind I’ve at least partially justified what some have already deemed the glue gun atrocity!

Will my girls learn how to balance things from this house? Not much (although it takes a balancing act to get the Frumps to stand. Will they have all the pieces for years to come? Yes. Will the house be tidy for them whenever they’d like to play? You bet yah! Will I ever unglue the furniture? Good question, to which I’d like to answer eventually, but one never knows, now, does one?

Princess seems to enjoy the house glued as much as unglued. So be it.

Call me Bad Mommy and call it a day!