Hey, Diddle Diddle

What do Mike Potts, Kyle Buchholz, and Annie Potts Grimmius have in common? I can think of at least five things:

1. They all live in Minnesota.

2. I know the parents of all three.

3. They're all around 30 years old.

4. They all have new babies.

5. They all received the limited-edition cloth book (pictured below) as baby gifts.

Okay, so I had to stretch to get five, when it is #5 that is the story here. A number of weeks ago, Mike Potts texted me a photo of one of his little sweeties chewing on--"reading"--the book. Mike's comment was about having received the book from me as a baby gift, and that Janet had saved it and passed it along to Kasey and Allie.

That, of course, reminded me that I likely had the comparable book I'd made for Annie, and sure enough I did. I threw it in the washing machine and out it came, dust free and ready for Vivian and Weston to sink their teeth into....er.... to read.

And if those two incidents weren't enough to remind me that I made the books over 30 years ago, lo and behold, an email arrived last week from Kathy Buchholz, a friend I'd grown up with and who lives in the Twin Cities.  Other than receiving Christmas greetings, I hadn't communicated with Kathy since our 105th high school reunion a couple of years ago, so it was a nice surprise to get her note. Here is the pertinent part of her message:

"We celebrated Kyle's birthday tonight (our middle son with the new baby girl) and I took him some of his baby stuff.... One of the things I had kept was a cloth Hey Diddle Diddle book. I looked in his baby book and found out that it was from you. Did you make it? I'm sure you remember, as it was only 31 years ago.  Ha! Anyway, I washed it and it looked like new, and Lily was reading it tonight, or rather chewing on it. It was a gift that kept on giving."

I had materials to make 4 of those books--the nursery rhyme characters were actually supposed to be cut out and stuffed to make little dolls, but I saw literary potential, and made books. I have no idea if I ever made the 4th book, but I'm fairly certain I didn't get around to it.

Funny how the planets were aligned enough for all three of the  known-to-be-published books to make an appearance within a couple of months of each other. If #4 is out there somewhere, I hope its owner will feel the vibrations in the universe and get in touch, too!