Recreating Daddy's Life

The basement has historically been Ben's domain.  It is a big open space that has a drum kit, an organ, and a number of stringed instruments in one end and a workshop left by the previous owner in the other end. It also has a small former "coal room" with great acoustics that Ben uses for recording.  In the past year or so, many of Dexter's former push toys, little cars, and "driving" cars have also ended up down there. Despite the presence of the washer and dryer, it has evolved into a very "male" space (fine by me, let those boys do the laundry).

Dexy and Daddy spend time down there just about every day. They play music and drive cars around. The other day, Dexter wanted to show me around the basement. "Come with me, Mommy. I want to show you around the basement." He proceeded to "introduce" me to the "garage" (the coal room) where he keeps all his "cars" (all Nissans, by the way). He took out each car and drove it around the basement, directing me to follow him.  As he drove over to the workshop, he said, "I have to go work. Here is where I teach guitar."  Then he drove between the two benches we have set up and said, "Now I have to park for my church gig." It was adorable to see him recreating Daddy's life in his own little world in the basement (although Daddy does not drive a Nissan).

A few weeks ago, I found a little table at a garage sale and we finally got around to replacing the stool that holds My Bologna's food bucket in the pantry with it. Ben and I decided to bring the stool down to the basement and Dexter wanted to decide where it should go.  He chose the space between the benches and said, "It goes in the church parking lot. That's OK. I can park on the street for my church gig."