Pleiades Bee

My mom and dad had cooked Sophie’s favorite foods, and my mom had set the table with all her Beatrix Potter china—including chocolate milk in a little china teapot.

After dinner—and cookies from BonBonerie—Sophie opened her gift from Nini and Pop Pop …

a handmade puppet theater!

My mom designed it so that it fits a doorway perfectly, with the help of tension rod. For now we use binder clips to fold the bottom up so that the opening is Sophie’s height—but as she grows, the theater will grow with her.

We most often use it in the doorway between our entry way and the writing nook.

When not in use, you simply roll the theater up and put it in its matching bag (which my mom also made). My parents bought Sophie a sewing box and filled it with handmade alphabet puppets leftover from my mom’s kindergarten teaching days. (I think my favorite is “T,” the turkey, who is wearing a tutu.)

Lately, every night in the half hour or so before baths and bedtime, Sophie gives us a show. (Or, more specifically, 26 shows.) Sometimes they’re dress-up shows, sometimes puppet shows. Regardless, the boys love it. Owen, especially. He claps at every “ta-da.”

“The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it’s so accidental. It’s so much like life.” —Arthur Miller