Thinking about some of Miracle O’Donnell’s toys…
Firstly, because I like to project: this little knitted doll.
This was my first ever doll, my mama made it for me. For my first Christmas. I like to think Delmar would have seen this pattern in a magazine or a catalog and immediately wanted to make it for his girl. He’s in that nesting stage while he’s impatient for her to come along already.
So he gets all the supplies and tries to get to work on it, but of course he doesn’t know how to knit and the instructions don’t make sense to him (can Delmar read? I go back and forth) and he’s not good with his hands in that way. So the project just kinda gets unceremoniously dropped.
But Penny gets wind of the project somehow, maybe sees the pattern lying around, and the next time she comes over, they find the doll, fully made, just resting unceremoniously in Miracle’s crib. Penny never said a word about it.
As an aside, I think their relationship with Penny would be an interesting one within the context of Miracle. I’m not really sure what their relationship is like otherwise- Delmar is definitely a babysitter, but she and Pete are both so hardheaded I think they might clash. But with the pregnancy, even though she probably has a *lot* of questions, what she ultimately sees is a child and family in need of care. Community care was the standard, especially in rural communities, and she’s the only community they’ve got.
With or without that doll, though, Miracle is not wanting for toys or cuddly things. Pete both would do anything for her (and Delmar, that’s a given) and also probably feels like he NEEDS to do something to keep him from feeling powerless (and perhaps a little guilty. Who put that baby in there, Pete?) while Delmar’s dealing with all that discomfort. He can’t take that discomfort away, but he can buy toys and get things ready for her.
For that reason, her nursery is absolutely decked out. I’d like to find a picture- my nursery and eventually playroom had two big butterfly wings painted on the walls, a monarch and a blue swallowtail. Pete would never think of himself as an artist, but he’d try his hand at something like that. Delmar’s gotta spend a lot of time in that room, anyway, so the walls should have something he likes on them 🦋
Even though she’s not wanting for toys, I think she probably ends up playing with things around the farm more often than not. Stealing all the garden gnomes so she can have students to play school with. This is an actual example from my childhood: we had this big plastic owl that went in the garden, and it served basically the same function as a scarecrow. It even had a head that swiveled like a real owl, so when the wind blew it would look like it was scanning for prey. But I stole that thing out of the garden and carried it around with me like a stuffed animal. It came to bed with me sometimes! And I think that’s too cute not to use, so I’m passing that weird kid torch onto Miracle.
And I’m sure all that land is great for her to run around on and play in. Probably takes after her daddy and his love for creepy crawlies and little animals, running out there and turning over stones or catching fireflies. They’ve definitely got a tire swing, like Delmar was interested in, and a hammock for napping. She might get fussy about having to take a nap in her room, but lying in the hammock with Delmar and getting rocked to sleep is more than agreeable. And I’m sure she’s a silly kid, hiding in the wheelbarrow or the laundry basket so her dads will act like they don’t see her and act like they’re gonna wash her in the creek or cover the carrots with her. And then she gets to be carried or wheeled around…cutie.
I felt bad that the fic is only her as a baby, so I had to do this for her as a bigger kid (which I also do want to write! But one thing at a time.) But this was too fun 😢 now I wanna do clothes for her. Little baby bonnets.
