Some nights sleep is elusive and I’m up earlier than expected—an experience I share with many people my age. At 6:15, I sit in my great grandmother’s rocker reading a book about baby care, since I will be a first-time grandmother in a month or so.
I try to imagine Anna Kuntz Pleitz and wonder what she was thinking when my grandmother, Helen Wagner Pleitz was pregnant with my mother, Eileen Pleitz Shriner in 1921. I wonder how Anna would view my self-assigned reading.
Anna lived with her son Frank and daughter-in-law Helen and would have been on hand when they were having children. I speculate that her knowledge of babies and mothering was held in high regard. Anna would have known the secrets of nursing and how to soothe a fussy baby. Like I do. In her day there may have been magazine articles and books about the ‘modern’ methods, but I don’t envision her reading them. She and Helen would have been confident of her skills.
Or maybe not. Throughout the 20th century and into this one, each new generation has had their own take on parenting and baby care. So I volunteered to read the Mayo Guide to Your Baby’s First Years along with the What to Expect website to learn what’s new in the 30+ years since I had newborns. I want to be familiar with what my daughter-in-law and son are learning.
My mother said my great great uncle, whose name I don’t know, made this beautiful platform rocker and matching footstool for his sister Anna. Making furniture was his trade. Anna’s husband George also made furniture, so perhaps it could be his handiwork. It is in the Eastlake style, so its design and decorations are simpler than ornate Victorian furniture. I don’t know if Anna brought it from Alsace (on the border of France and Germany) when she emigrated from France or if it was made in the U.S.
It’s a ladies rocker, which means its frame is smaller and lower. It’s very comfortable and fits me perfectly. More than 100 years later, the rocker doesn’t even squeak. A couple of years ago, I had it reupholstered and replaced the antique-looking gold striped fabric my parents had chosen with an off-white tweed with threads of red and gold and blue. I wanted the rocker to be used and not be a museum piece.
I silently rock and think of Anna, Helen, and my mother sending their love and wisdom.
What beautiful memories that can come from certain pieces of furniture. I love rockers and have two that belonged to long time ago loved ones. Thank you!
Thank you! I like thinking I’m still connected to these women and the rocker reminds me of them.
Even though all of the big heirlooms are gone from my life (no room and no one wanted them), I often look at the small ones that mean a lot to me with the same eye….mine is a butter container, which is one of the few things that my great-great-great grandmother was able to bring with her from Smaland, Sweden, when they emigrated. It has a hair necklace in it (once a fashion statement), inherited from my great grandmother. And rose petals from my grandmother’s garden.
What a sweet post! Adding a new grandchild to the family does make us think of, and honor, those who have come before. Each generation shares a bit of their wisdom with the next, and also learns a thing of two from them as well. Which is, I think, as it should be!
Exactly!
A lovely heirloom and congrats on the pending arrival! Do the books revise parenting from when we were new parents?
A lot of the advice is similar, but there are a few things being done differently. No doubt you’re familiar with the idea that there shouldn’t be any bumper pads, blankets or toys in cribs to protect newborns from SIDS. Not a surprise. But now the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends babies sleep in parents’ room (in their own bed or bassinet) until they’re 6-12 months old to help prevent SIDS. What?!? How will the new parents get any sleep? We’ll see how my son and daughter in law handle this . . .
Family-bed is a big thing these days… there is no way I could have done that. I needed my sleep!